Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/933296
maltatoday SUNDAY 28 JANUARY 2018 News 7 CELEBRATE THAT NEW HOME MOMENT WITH A FIXED RATE HOME LOAN • Free 3 month Life Cover* • Specialised lending managers • Quick decision *Offer valid on HSBC Life Assurance policies only. The special fixed rate offer of 2.5% until 30 June 2020 is available for all home loan customers taking a loan between 02 January 2018 and 28 February 2018. Representative example of a Classic Home Loan based on a loan amount of €140,000 being made available to a first-time buyer by HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c. at a fixed borrowing interest rate of 2.5% for the first 24 months and a variable borrowing interest rate of 3% p.a. for the remaining 336 months. The APRC will be 3% p.a. The loan will be repayable in 24 equal monthly instalments of €555.83, 335 equal monthly instalments of €591.32 and one final instalment of €583.44. The total sum payable throughout the term of the loan assuming the variable interest rate remains unchanged will be €212,337.26. Applicable charges on this loan are as follows - processing fee of €50, processing (legal) fee of €100, periodic booking fee of €100, updating of searches fees of €41.70 and an initial updating of searches fee of €30. The loan is to be secured by a first ranking hypothec and special privilege over the property being financed, a first ranking pledge over a life assurance policy covering the whole loan amount and a buildings insurance policy for the replacement cost of the property being financed. If repayments are not maintained, the bank may take steps to sell the property financed following legal proceedings and the borrower may lose his property. Terms and conditions apply. Approved and issued by HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c., 116, Archbishop Street, Valletta VLT1444 which is a Tied Insurance Intermediary for HSBC Life Assurance (Malta) Ltd under the Insurance Intermediaries Act 2006 and is regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority. 99425-01/2018 2.5% Fixed until 30 June 2020 Together we thrive CLICK hsbc.com.mt/start CALL 2380 2000 VISIT your local branch SMS send text message "HOME LOAN" to 7900 2380 (Normal SMS tariffs apply) HSBCMalta HSBC_MT sexual harassment, a disciplinary board was immediately set up." Most respondents had experi- enced sexual harassment at some point in their career. Respondents said it was 'accepted that women accept sexual harassment as a 'joke', because it is a 'friendly gesture'', and that 'it happens all the time'. When it comes to violence in the workplace, the study reported that no respondent experienced violence in the workplace. However, the study made reference to Daphne Caruana Galizia's recent murder. Gender equality policies Eight women reported that there were no formal gender equality poli- cies or codes of practice documents in place, and one participant work- ing in a large newsroom comment- ed that "employees are governed by their collective agreement and by national legislation." When it comes to family-friendly policies in the workplace, respond- ents' answers differed. One respond- ent, who worked in a newsroom, de- scribed the family-friendly, flexible attitudes that she encountered in a newsroom she had worked in when her daughter was younger. In sharp contrast, another re- spondent, who worked in gaming, described how she was "asked to leave" her job because she was preg- nant with her second daughter and had been in hospital. The strongest statement on regula- tion came from a respondent repre- senting a women's organisation. She noted that "if we truly wish to have a media workforce that is gender equal, there is a need for better legis- lation; and there is no point in having legislation without enforcement." One woman suggested that "NGOs and prominent people need to speak out to help this awareness raising", while another noted that "policies and mechanisms are need- ed to support equality and this will also support a culture shift." One participant working in a women's organisation commented that "women bring to every area; they bring fresh ideas, emotion, a fresh perspective. And if gender balance is achieved in the media, women can aspire to become media workers, journalists, and so [there would be a] ripple effect." To bring better content we need to strive for more women in decision- making positions. As one newsroom journalist noted, different genders bring different viewpoints and dif- ferent ways of being. She continued, "a female editor in a media organisa- tion would also be a good reflection or mirror of society; and the stories tackled would be different, maybe even more human-oriented." A participant working for a wom- en's organisation commented that, "if greater equality in media content is achieved, viewers will have posi- tive portrayals of gender and gender issues, and this would reflect a bet- ter understanding of broader gender issues." "The newsroom is a very macho environment. If you survive it, you'll survive anything" MATTHEW VELLA FOREIGN workers in Malta contributed over €100 million in tax payments, according to lat- est data presented in the House of Representa- tives. The data from the finance ministry shows that tax receipts from foreign workers doubled over five years, from €51 million in 2011, to €100.6 million in 2016. A recent parliamentary question revealed that there were 37,717 foreign workers regis- tered in Malta up to March 2017. That would suggest a tax contribution of €2,650 per capita. Of these foreign workers, 27,334 hailed from EU member states, while 10,383 were from non-EU member states. In 2013 the number of foreign workers in Malta totalled 15,094, of which 9,670 were EU workers while the rest, 5,424, were from non- EU states. According to NSO data, in March 2017 there was a total of 187,977 people in full-time employment and 34,858 who held down a part-time job as their main employ- ment. That would indicate that foreign work- ers constitute around 17% of the total work- force in Malta. An analysis of foreign migration to Malta by the Central Bank carried out in 2016 had sug- gested it was hard to understand the effect on wages of the large influx of the last years. "In certain sectors, such as financial servic- es, information and communication, real es- tate and professional and administrative sup- port services, a large net inflow of foreigners between 2010 and 2014 has coincided with a significant rise in wage growth. Conversely, there is evidence that in some sectors which faced less buoyant conditions and where most growth in employment was among for- eigners – in construction and tourism – wage developments were quite muted." The Central Bank said that tax data indi- cated that while in 2000, revenue from foreign workers accounted for just 2.4% of personal income tax and national insurance contribu- tions, by 2014 this share had risen to 10.1%. "The amount of direct tax revenue collected from foreign workers increased by nine times during the period 2000 to 2014, whereas that from Maltese workers doubled." The Central Bank also said that migrants also do not appear to be weighing down on the social benefit budget – in 2016 there were just 130 on unemployment benefits, for instance. "This suggests that in addition to their sig- nificant contribution towards economic growth, foreign workers have also contributed significantly to improve the state of public fi- nances in Malta." mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Tax contribution of foreign workers doubles in five years