The Government of Malta announced a third financial package on 24 March 2020 to help minimise the effects of the current instability in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. These follows up on other measures already announced earlier.  More measures may be announced in future as the need arises.

The following is a summary of all measures announced.

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Measures relating to the economy

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• Deferred tax, vat and social security payments for the months of March and April estimated to amount to €400 - €700 million.  All tax forms should be submitted according to normal deadlines;

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• €150 million to be allocated as bank guarantees and another €750 million in soft loans to help business encountering difficulties

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• Aid supporting teleworking initiatives, whereby business are eligible for a cash grant calculated at 45% of purchasing/ leasing of portable computer hardware and communication solutions that allow users to connect to the place of work.  The aid is capped at €500 per teleworking agreement and up to €4,000 per undertaking.

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• Health budget to be increased by €35 million in order to fund any expenses in relation to COVID-19 (may be increased further in future as necessary);

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• Possibility of requesting a moratorium period of up to three months for personal and business loans.

 

Measures relating to employment:

• Businesses who have employees on mandatory quarantine shall receive a grant of €350 per employee;

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• Enterprises (including self-employed) that suffered from a complete suspension of operations (refer to list below *) will be entitled to a grant equivalent to a monthly salary of €800 per employee).  The measure is to apply retrospective from 9 March 2020;

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* The critical sectors are: wholesale, retail, accommodation, food and beverage service activities, vehicle rentals, employment activities, tour operators, travel agencies and other related enterprises, security companies, building services companies, transport companies, creative, arts, and entertainment activities, personal activities – such as barbers, beauticians, and other similar enterprises.

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• Businesses (including self-employed persons) which have suffered from a decrease in their operations by at least 25% are entitled to a grant equivalent to one day per week based on €800 per month. There is the possibility of increasing the grant to two days a week further down the line.  Self-employed that employ workers with them are eligible to pay covering three days weekly.

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• Individuals whose full-time employment has been terminated as of 9 March 2020, shall be entitled to a temporary benefit of up to €800 a month.

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• With respect to third country nationals:

  1. All enterprise that terminate the employment contract of one of their employees shall be prohibited from offering an employment contract to third country nationals;

  2. Only applications for highly-skilled third country nationals shall be          considered;

  3. Third country nationals whose employment has been terminated shall be provided assistance in order to find alternative employment.

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