LOCAL NEWS
Press Conference by Health Superintendent Prof. Charmaine Gauci (7th May, 1230)
During today’s daily briefing, Prof Charmaine Gauci announced that six persons have recovered in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 413. Yesterday, 1,022 tests were carried out, through which two new cases were identified, taking Malta’s tally to 486. Malta now has 68 cases.
The two new cases included a 77-year old Maltese woman who, despite showing no symptoms, was identified during a routine check prior to being granted access to Mater Dei Hospital. The other person was a younger mother who tested herself after her daughter – who in turn tested negative – had shown a number of symptoms.
Gauci said that of all cases, only 18 concerned children, that’s 3.7% of the total. However, studies carried out abroad have shown that while children carry a lesser risk of infection, are effective carriers of the virus.
The Health Superintendent insisted that these figures attest that Malta is managing to keep its figures low and that the re-opening of non-essential retail outlets, based on scientific assessments, were not resulting into a higher number of impact. This was happening because the public was respecting the directives, particularly the wearing of masks in such outlets.
Press Conference by Social Affairs Minister (7th May)
Social Security Ministry Michael Falzon said that over €7.3 million have been issued to date in social security contributions in support measures related to the current pandemic, including benefits to parents working at home, disability benefits, additional unemployment benefits and medical benefits.
In a press conference this morning, the Minister said that 9,670 applications have been received, at approximately 500 per week. Practically all but a handful of these applications have been processed.
The Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mark Musu, added that there were 136 people who had first applied for unemployment benefits, but then found a jobs and stopped receiving Government’s support.
MEDIA COVERAGE
Timesofmalta.com
New online space created for community to come together
We Connect, a positive, a safe online space where people across Malta and Gozo can come together as a community to prioritise their wellbeing and find happiness has been launched by the FIDEM Charity Foundation.
The goal of the team behind the project is to empower the community with free, unlimited access to a wide range of services, tools and opportunities designed to help with uplifting emotional and mental wellbeing and combat loneliness. The service will soon be available in both English and Maltese.
The service follows FIDEM’s set up the “Hear to Help” helpline, set up soon after Malta’s semi-lockdown began.
A frequent concern experienced by callers was loneliness, particularly amongst older people. FIDEM and We Connect will support community wellbeing throughout the pandemic and beyond.
“Our ultimate aim is for We Connect to significantly help turn the tide on the ongoing widespread issue of loneliness in our society,” the team setting up the service said.
Business Today
Muscat gives Cabinet COVID-19 forecast
Joseph Muscat is back. This time as an economic consultant brought back into the heart of the Labour government to map out a new way out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a nine-page report compiled by “the office of Dr Joseph Muscat”, the former prime minister gave Cabinet ministers a note on the possible evolution of the Maltese economy in 2020 and 2021.
In it, the former Labour leader, who resigned in the wake of the Caruana Galizia assassination investigation and its implication of his chief of staff Keith Schembri, gave a wide range of scenarios: as bad as a loss of 16.1% in gross value added in 2020, to as much as a bumper 10% growth in 2021.
In all scenarios – ranging from mild to severe – Muscat laid out the inevitable: tourism will be badly hit due to global travel bans, but retail will likely to be the first sector to rebound.
“These simulations anticipate a loss in gross value added of between 6.1% and 16.1% for 2020… the Maltese economy, as almost all economies globally, is expected to contract in 2020. Our estimates are between 2.1% and 12.5% depending on the scenarios. Nevertheless, this is generally a better performance than its economic peers,” Muscat said.
But he anticipates the Maltese economy to go back in positive territory in 2021, “from as little as 0.2% to a bumper 10%.”
VAT on masks, face shields to go down to 5% – Economy Minister
VAT on face masks and face shields will go down to 5% from the standard 18% through a legal notice which should be published today, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri said on Wednesday.
Asked by The Malta Independent to confirm whether, in spite of the government’s price cap on these items, those importing them still had to pay VAT and customs taxes in full on the original price, Schembri said that while they were taxed with an 18% VAT, Cabinet had taken a decision to lower that VAT to 5%.
Printed
The Malta Business Weekly quotes the latest economic forecast by the European Commission which is bracing itself for the biggest recession “since the Great Depression”. Malta is predicted to suffer the third-lowest contraction, at -5.8 percent.
L-Orizzont also cites the EC Spring Economic Forecast which projects a growth of six percent in Malta’s economic performance in 2021. The paper says that, in comparison, the economy grew by 4.4 percent in 2019.
In-Nazzjon says that government debt grew to over €312 million over the first quarter of this year, with an increase in the national deficit of €178 million. Figures for March show a combined decrease of €35 million from VAT and income tax compared to the previous year.
The Independent reports that VAT on face masks and visors will be revised down to five percent from the standard 18 percent. Economy Minister Silvio Schembri said that importers will, however, still have to pay VAT and customs tax.
The Times says that Air Malta has reviewed its downsizing strategy and plans to keep more pilots and cabin crew on its payroll that originally declared. The airline is also projecting to operate up to five aircraft by summer 2021 instead of just two.
The Independent quotes a Eurostat report which indicates that carbon dioxide emissions from energy use in Malta continued to rise since 2017. Figures for 2019 show the Malta is one of only four EU states to register an increase in CO2 from fossil fuel combustion.
L-Orizzont quotes European Commission Vice-President responsible for digital transformation Margarethe Vestager who said that it will be difficult for life to return to normality before a tracing app is introduced.
The Times reveals that former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is advising his successor on economic recovery plans. Muscat was seen emerging from Castille after an “hours-long” meeting on Monday night.
In-Nazzjon quotes PN spokesperson for tourism Robert Arrigo who proposed a €2 billion fund over the next 18 months to help the tourism industry back on its feet. Arrigo argued that tourism is one of the main pillars of the county’s economy.
Editorials
The Times of Malta pushes authorities to look into an important report published by an Australian University calling on government to address ten threats to humanity: climate change; environmental decline and extinction; nuclear weapons; resource scarcity (including water scarcity); food insecurity; dangerous new technologies; overpopulation; chemical pollution; pandemic disease; and denial and misinformation. The Editor argues that just in the same way authorities committed their full energy to fight off the coronavirus pandemic, in the same manner they should tackle these risks head-on especially once the current crisis is over.
Business Today analyses an economic note presented by former PM Joseph Muscat to Cabinet.The Editorial notes that what is different in Muscat’s note from other economic forecasts so far is that it presents alternative scenarios to cater for the uncertainty created by a pandemic nobody knows how long will last. However, the Editor says the Prime Minister will have to weigh the benefits of drawing Muscat closer to the executive at a time of crisis, with the reputational fallout this could create internationally.
The Business Weekly writes about the new normal and expresses hope that just because we have not witnessed the trauma of seeing imagery with thousands of coffins and losing our friends and family members, we take the situation seriously and not risk a second wave of infections.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
France’s Eurofins launches product to detect coronavirus
French diagnostics company Eurofins announced on Thursday the launch of a new product to detect the coronavirus that has killed thousands in a global pandemic.
The GSD NovaPrime product to identify the SARS-CoV-2 virus will make use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which Eurofins called the method of choice to detect acute virus infections.
EU Corner
EU survey highlights plummeting optimism, low trust levels, alongside rising fears of job loss and financial insecurity
The first results from Eurofound’s Living, working and COVID-19 online survey show a Europe grappling to respond to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic with many respondents reporting high levels of loneliness coupled with low levels of optimism about their future. Overall, people are showing some decrease in their well-being. People across the EU are also reporting very low levels of trust in the EU and in their national governments. The survey findings also confirm an increase in telework and, for a growing number of respondents, a feeling of insecurity regarding their jobs with a dramatic decrease in working time. Finally, the survey paints a stark picture of Europeans across the 27 Member States who have seen their economic situation worsen and are deeply concerned about their financial future.
The crisis caused by the pandemic has had a strong effect on people’s optimism about their future. In April 2020, less than half (46%) of EU respondents were optimistic about their own future compared to almost two-thirds (64%) as recorded in the European Quality of Life Survey in 2016. Respondents from the most heavily hit countries in the EU (France, Italy, Belgium, Spain) were all among those least optimistic about their future and below the EU average.
At European level, mental wellbeing has also been affected with the lowest rates (on a scale 0-100) among those unable to work due to disability or illness (48) and those unemployed (49). People aged 50 or over had higher mental wellbeing (60) than those under 35 and those in between (scoring 56 and 57 respectively). At European level 16% of respondents also said that they were lonely “all or most of the time” over the previous two weeks, with 20% of young respondents (under 35) feeling this way. Overall, loneliness was most common among respondents in France (22%) and least common in Finland (9%). This is strikingly different from usual findings in other surveys: in the 2016 EQLS overall loneliness was just 6%, decreasing to 4% for under-35s.
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This daily update bulletin is being compiled for the Chamber of Advocates by CI Consulta from Corporate ID Group. CI Consulta delivers policy research and analysis, evaluations and impact assessments up to policy implementation and integration.
