Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/768342
42 Events maltatoday, SATURDAY, 31 DECEMBER 2016 Special bus service for tonight During the night of 31st Decem- ber 2016, Malta Public Transport will operate 10 Special Service routes from Valletta, in order to faciltate travel for those spending New Year's Eve in the captial city. The special service routes are as follows: N13: buses will be operated ac- cording to demand, plus the nor- mal scheduled service, from Bays A11, A12 and A13 Valletta – Floriana Triq Sant Anna – Bombi – Pieta` – Msida – Gżira Rue D'Argens – Gżira Triq Testaferrata – Sliema Ferries – Sliema Tower Road – Spinola – St. Julian's – Paceville – Pem- broke P&R S10: departure time from Valletta Bay A1 at 23:30, 00:30 and 01:30 Valletta – Floriana Triq Sant Anna – Bombi – Blata L-Bajda – Marsa Triq Aldo Moro – Paola Square – Għajn Dwieli – Isla Terminus – Bormla Pjazza Gavi- no Gulia – Bormla Xatt – Birgu Café Riche – Kapuċċini – Xgħajra Church – Xgħajra Xatt – Kalkara Ta' Bighi – Kalkara Xatt S20: departure time from Valletta Bay A2 at 23:30 and from 00:15 to 01:45 every 30 minutes Valletta – Floriana Triq Sant Anna – Bombi – Pieta – Msida – Gzira Rue D'Argens –Mrabat – San Gwann Church – San Gwann Ta' Zwejt – Kappara – Kappara roundabaout (tal-gas) – Qroqq Skatepark – Msida S30: departure from Valletta Bay A3 at 23:30 and every 20 minutes from 00:15 to 01:55 Valletta – Floriana Triq Sant Anna – Bombi – Pieta` – Msida – Qroqq Skatepark – Birkirkara By-Pass – Lija Roundabaout – Ik- lin – Għargħur – Naxxar – Mo- sta Technopark – Mosta Rotunda – Tarġa Gap – Burmarrad – Buġibba Pioneer Road – Buġibba Terminus S40: departure from Valletta Bay A10 at 23:30, 00:30 and 01:30 Valletta – Floriana Triq Sant Anna – Bombi – Pieta` – Msida – Valley Road B'Kara – Birkirkara Lija Roundabout – Mosta Tech- nopark – Mosta Rotunda – Tarġa Gap – Mġarr – Manikata – Għajn Tuffieħa S41: departure from Valletta Bay A4 every 15 minutes at 23:30, 00:30, 01:00 and at 01:30 Valletta – Floriana Triq Sant Anna – Bombi – Pieta` – Msida – Qroqq Skatepark – Birkirkara By-Pass – Lija Roundabaout – Mosta Technopark – Mosta Ro- tunda – Tarġa Gap – Burmar- rad – St. Paul's Bay – Xemxija – Mellieħa Village – Għadira Bay – Ċirkewwa S50: departure from Valletta Bay A5 at 23:30 and every 30 minutes from 00:15 to 01:45 Valletta – Floriana Triq Sant An- na – Bombi – Ħamrun – Santa Venera – Mrieħel – Attard Warda Interchange – Ta' Qali Inter- change – Saqqajja – Rabat Inter- change – Mtarfa – Rabat Vjal il- Ħaddiem – Dingli – Rabat Triq N. Saura S60: departure from Valletta A6 at 23:30, 00:30 and at 01:30 Valletta – Floriana Triq Sant An- na – Bombi – Ħamrun – Marsa P&R – Qormi San Sebastjan – Qormi Triq San Edwardu – Qor- mi Polyclinic – Mdina Road Qor- mi – Żebbug Terminus – Siġġiewi Centre S70: departure from Valletta Bay A7 at 23:30 and every 30 minutes from 00:15 to 01:45 Valletta – Floriana Triq Sant Anna – Bombi – Blata I-Bajda – Marsa Triq Aldo Moro – St. Vincent De Paul – Luqa – Kirkop – Safi – Vjal ix-Xarolla Żurrieq – Vjal il-Blue Grotto – Żurrieq – Qrendi – Mqabba S80: departure from Valletta A8 at 23:30, 00:30 and at 01:30 Valletta – Floriana Triq Sant Anna – Bombi – Blata L-Bajda – Marsa P&R – Marsa Triq Aldo Moro – Paola Square – Tarx- ien – Santa Luċija – Bulebel – Żejtun Terminus – Bir-id-Deheb – Birzebbuġa – Għaxaq – Gudja S90: departure from Valletta A9 at 23:30 and every 30 minutes from 00:15 to 02:15 Valletta – Floriana Triq Sant Anna – Bombi – Blata L-Bajda – Marsa Triq Aldo Moro – Paola Square Fgura – Hompesch Gate – Żabbar Center – Marsaskala Triq Il-Qaliet – Marsaskala Terminus As previously announced, the public transport service will op- erate a reduced service on New Year's day. Buses will stop operat- ing at lunch time and the service will be suspended between noon and 15:00, with the last buses de- parting between 10:00 and 11:30, depending on the length of the trip. Services will resume nor- mal operation between 15:00 and 16:00. Last evening services will terminate at 21:00. Passengers are also reminded that until 6 January 2017 buses are operating on a Saturday time schedule from Monday to Friday while they will operate as usu- al on Saturday. The service on routes that normally operate only during the weekdays, namely 49, 50 and 90, are still being provided during this period. Malta Public Transport also advises customers that its ticket booths will be closed on New Year's day. €361,611 collected from President's Fun Run, supported by Banif ONCE again The President's Solidarity Fun Run, supported by Banif Bank for the eighth year running, has collected a mammoth amount of funds - €361,611 was the largest single donation to the Malta Com- munity Chest Fund Founda- tion during L-Istrina. A team from Banif Bank led by Chair- man Dr Michael Frendo were present to mark the occasion. Dr Frendo said "For the past eight years the Bank has been part of this heartening story and overwhelming display of solidarity. And year after year we keep exceeding expecta- tions. The Bank wishes to thank the thousands of par- ticipants, the MCCFF and the Banif team who contributed towards this extraordinary show of generosity." Christmas party a hit with kids of HSBC employees Many children look forward to the most magical time of the year, but little did the little ones of the HSBC Malta family ex- pect that their trip to Eden Superbowl to celebrate Christmas 2016 would become their most memorable party yet. The experience entailed spending time with their friends and watching movies, bowling games, and, what's more, re- ceiving presents from none other than the Father Christmas. A total of 700 children of HSBC Malta staff members at- tended. The Christmas Party for the children of HSBC Malta staff members was an opportunity for the young ones to have a wild time but also to expand their circle of friends Fiscal Advisory Council publishes final assessment of Budget On 28 December 2016 the Malta Fiscal Advisory Council (MFAC) presented its final assessment of the Draft Budgetary Plan for 2017. This Report reviews the conduct of fiscal policy, exam- ining the compliance with the fiscal rules which are outlined in the Fiscal Responsibility Act and in the Stability and Growth Pact. This Report supplements the previous two reports published in October and November this year, which respectively focused on the plausibility of the Gov- ernment's macroeconomic fore- casts, and its fiscal projections. The Council notes positively that the planned trajectory for public debt, which is expected to decline from 64.0% of GDP in 2015 to 63.3% in 2016 and 61.9% in 2017, complies with the debt rule. The slower accumulation of debt and the expansion in nominal GDP are enabling the debt to-GDP ratio to converge closer towards the target of 60%, which is applicable to euro area Member States. The Council also welcomes the plans to move ahead with further improvement in public finances, with the aim of lower- ing the fiscal deficit to 0.7% of GDP in 2016 and 0.5% of GDP in 2017. The undertaking of counter-cyclical fiscal tighten- ing contributes to further pro- gress towards the attainment of Malta's Medium-Term Objective of structural balance by 2019. Available information suggests that the pace of structural ad- justment for 2016, that is, the improvement in the fiscal bal- ance after correcting for the ef- fects of the business cycle and one-off and temporary effects, will exceed the 0.6% of GDP minimum requirement. However, the Council identi- fies the risk of some possible di- vergence from this requirement for 2017, also on the basis of the calculations published by the European Commission in this regard. Likewise, the Council consid- ers that the expenditure rule should be respected in 2016, as annual expenditure growth, af- ter adjusting for certain compo- nents, is expected to be within the prescribed limit. However, there is a risk that such limit could be exceeded slightly in 2017. Overall, it is the Council 's view that the budgetary plan for 2017 broadly complies with the requirements of the Fiscal Re- sponsibility Act and the Stabil- ity and Growth Pact. This was the same conclusion reached by the European Commission. However, the Council invites the Government to explore pos- sible fine-tuning of expenditure plans for 2017, to accommodate the requirements set by the Commission for both the annual structural effort, as well as the yearly expenditure growth limit. In this regard, it will be impor- tant that compliance with fis- cal rules is done in a way which does not limit the efficacy and the meeting of fiscal policy ob- jectives. Full report available on http:// w w w.mfac.gov.mt.