Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/606717
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 NOVEMBER 2015 11 Business Today www.creditinfo.com.mt info@creditinfo.com.mt Tel: 2131 2344 Your Local Partner for Credit Risk Management Solutions Supporting you all the way 4,916 registered as unemployed in October In October 2015, the number of persons registering for work stood at 4,916 compared to 6,596 in the corresponding month last year. Data provided by the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) for October indicate a decrease of 1657 persons registering under Part I and a decline of 23 among those registering under Part II of the unemployment register, when compared to October 2014. Overall, decreases in registered unemployment were recorded among all age groups. When compared to October last year, registrants for work decreased irrespective of how long they had been registering. The largest decrease was recorded among persons who had been registering for over one year. The number of persons with a disability who were registering for work also decreased and stood at 390 from 458 in 2014. Males accounted for 80.8 per cent of total registrants with a disability. The largest share of males on the unemployment register sought occupations as crafts and related trade workers (18.3 per cent), whereas their female counterparts mostly sought occupations as clerical support workers (28.2 per cent). The registered unemployment rate in May 2015 stood at 3.1 per cent of the labour supply (excluding part-time employment), and varied from 3.6 per cent among men to 2.2 per cent among women. Energy ministry is new shareholder in oil trading hub IEG Malta Malta's ministry for energy and water conservation will replace government investment promotion arm Malta Enterprise as the new shareholder in IEG Malta Limited. IEG was formed in May between the Malta Enterprise Corporation and New Silkroutes Group (Europe) Limited. On 5 November 2015, a board resolution was passed to facilitate the transfer of the10% stake held by Malta Enterprise in IEG, to Malta's Ministry for Energy. "The handover from Malta Enterprise to MEH will ensure that the implementation of this initiative is aligned to Malta's strategy to become an important Mediterranean energy trading hub between Europe and Asia," the government said. The ministry is now represented on the board of IEG through its Permanent Secretary, who will replace Malta Enterprise chairman Mario Vella. The joint venture dubs itself as "a trading hub in the Euro-Asian oil trade flow". IEG Malta's parent company is International Energy Group Pte Ltd (IEG). International Energy Group Pte Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digiland International Limited, a Singapore incorporated company listed on the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange Trading Ltd. International Energy Group Pte Ltd is engaged in the wholesale and retail trading of petrochemical products. "The Maltese operation is expected to carry out its first transactions shortly, enabling The Republic of Malta to profile itself as a centre of financial services in this field. Initially, the joint venture company will be using Malta as an oil trading hub and plans to increase eventually its activities into oil blending and bunkering. The company intends to trade energy products between Europe and Asia," Digiliand International said in May. "Malta has an island-economy much like Singapore and Hong Kong with little natural resources and a dependency on intellect and investment capital. I believe that Malta has the potential to punch well above its weight class," IEG's Chairman and Executive Director Goh Jin Hian had said. New Silkroutes CEO Dr Goh Jin Hian said that the company is "on track" in collaborating with the government to develop Malta as the price discovery centre for energy in the EU and the Mediterranean. "In our transformation, we have focused on setting the pace for IEG to be the leading oil and gas player on the Euro-Asian arena. The collaboration with the Malta government is timely, given that we can now capitalise on the recently concluded EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA)," he adds. New Silkroutes shares, now under trading halt, last traded at 0.1 cents. Travel stocks hit by slump in fl ight bookings since Paris attacks European travel stocks were among the heaviest fallers in early trade following evidence that new fl ight bookings to Paris had slumped by more than a quarter since the at- tacks on November 13 that killed 130 people. Data provided by travel information group ForwardKeys revealed that customers booking flights to Paris dropped by 27pc between November 14 and 21 compared to the same period last year. There were also 21pc more cancellations during this period. However, in recent days cancellations have recovered to normal levels. The sharp drop in bookings can be attributed to leisure travellers rather than business visitors, the report said. France, which is the most visited country in the world, is now facing a "worrisome" Christmas period, the group said, as bookings for the festive season are currently 13pc behind last year's figures. "Looking ahead into Christmas, the regular growth in bookings for travel to Paris promptly plateaued right after the terror strike and is starting to slide downwards," the report said. While bookings are down across the board, it was the US, China, Spain and Italy that reacted the most to the events in Paris - one of the world's most popular travel destinations, which hosted 32.2m visitors in 2014.