Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1348867
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 10 MARCH 2021 NEWS COVID-19: Worst-hit businesses to receive full wage subsidy up to end of year PAUL COCKS THOSE business hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures introduced to mit- igate its effects will continue to benefit from the government's wage subsidy scheme up to the end of the year, the minister for enterprise and sustainable devel- opment announced today. Miriam Dalli, in a press conference addressed also by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, said that these busi- nesses would benefit from the full benefit of €800 per employ- ee, with eligibility based on the business's loss in turnover dur- ing the pandemic. Following a spike in the num- ber of daily cases registered, Prime Minister Robert Abela announced last week that the wage subsidy scheme, in its current reiteration, was being extended to the end of June and that the hardest hit com- panies will receive the full sub- sidy applicable. Following today's announce- ment, those companies will continue to receive the benefit up to the end of the year. Em- ployees engaged after March 2020 would also be covered un- der this scheme. "In the meantime, we will be announcing in the next few weeks new measures and ini- tiatives aimed at reducing the dependancy of such business on the wage supplement," Dalli said. She said the government would continue working close- ly with all stakeholders to en- sure companies continue to receive assistance as necessary and to safeguard jobs. "From this month, 850 com- panies and 870 self-employed are receiving assistance to meet their rents, in a scheme total- ling €12 million," Dalli said. "These businesses provide be- tween them 14,000 jobs in Mal- ta and 900 in Gozo." A further €1.4 million would be disbursed in the coming days to assist companies which presented viable expansion and regeneration plans to Malta Enterprise under its MicroIn- vest scheme. Caruana said that the govern- ment spent around €360 mil- lion on the wage supplement in 2020, nearly 3% of the country's gross domestic product, which had fallen by around 7% last year. A further €200 million are to be spent on the measure in the coming nine months. And the pandemic had cost around 5,000 employees their jobs. "Of those, however, only around 400 have not yet found a new job and are registering for unemployment," he said. On moratoria offered to busi- nesses, Caruana said discus- sions were underway between the Malta Development Bank and commercial banks as to how to provide further finan- cial aid to companies. "In the meantime, most banks have taken it upon themselves to extend loan repayments to companies in need, even be- yond the limits of the moratari- um," he said. Government wage subsidy scheme to be extended to the end of the year in the case of companies and businesses worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures introduced to mitigate its effects Ministers Clyde Caruana and Miriam Dalli giving details of the extension to the government's wage subsidy scheme THE Malta Chamber welcomed the ex- tension of the existing wage supplement scheme for employees employed in busi- ness experiencing difficulties due to the Covid- 19 pandemic. In a statement, the Chamber said that the current scheme implemented in January of this year, which was based on loss of turnover, has now been ex- tended until June with the Government announcing that the scheme will be ex- tended further for the hardest hit com- panies until the end of year. "Since its launch early last year, the scheme has safeguarded thousands of jobs and kept a number of business afloat, while working hard to recover lost business," the Chamber said. "It is clear that this direct assistance is crucial at a time when a number of busi- ness operators are trying to survive the current impact." The Chamber also called for an im- mediate focus on what Enterprise Min- ister Miriam Dalli referred to as the "new economy initiatives", which will be launched during the coming weeks. The Chamber has held several discus- sions with Government and has rec- ommended several measures linked to business re-engineering and incentivis- ing and revitalising investment among other things. "The Chamber is therefore eager to understand what these initiatives will be focusing on and offers its assistance to Government to ensure that the busi- ness community remains competitive and resilient in the coming months and years." Malta Chamber welcomes wage subsidy extension for businesses in dire need