Government sets up emergency committee to address economic impact of coronavirus

An inter-ministerial emergency committee has been set up to address the growing impact of the coronavirus on the economy.

The move comes as tourism slowly grinds to a halt in the midst of widespread travel restrictions being imposed across Europe, including Malta.

In the latest development, the US has now banned all travel from the Europe in a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Dubbed the Economic Stimulus Committee, it brings together Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, Tourism Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri and Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo as well as officials from state agencies like Malta Enterprise.

The aim of the committee is to evaluate the different impacts the coronavirus is having on various sectors and propose mitigation measures.

Finance Minister Edward Scicluna has told sister publication Business Today that his ministry was evaluating the economic impact of the virus on each sector of Malta’s economy.

He said talks were underway with state entities, other business representatives and the banks to learn of the particular needs of industry.

“The set of measures which will be announced in due course will abide by the EU state-aid decisions and programmes approved for this particular circumstance,” Scicluna told the business publication.

In a Facebook post this morning, the Tourism Minister described this as a "trying moment" for the sector and "the biggest test of recent times".  She had words of encouragement for tourism stakeholders and workers: "Malta and the Maltese have always been a resilient nation. We will walk this road together."

Meanwhile, Opposition leader Adrian Delia has called on government to embrace the Opposition's offer to work with government at this trying moment. "This is not about politics, it's about our people, Malta and Gozo," he said.

Prevention is better than cure. @RobertAbela_MT be pro-active. Health & wellbeing of our people come first. Let’s work together for the benefit of the country. @PNmalta reiterate it’s commitment to help @MaltaGov. This is not about politics, it’s about our people, Malta & Gozo.

— Adrian Delia (@adriandeliapn) March 11, 2020

Malta registered its seventh case of Covid-19 on Wednesday evening. All cases so far have contracted the virus while on holiday in Italy and there have been no instances yet of domestic transmission.

On Wednesday, government announced sea and air travel restrictions to Germany, France, Spain and Switzerland. All people who returned from these countries have to go into quarantine at home.

The measures follow the ban on travel to Italy, with people who visited the country over the past 14 days being asked to quarantine themselves at home.

Prime Minister Robert Abela yesterday also announced that quarantine will be mandatory and enforced through police spot checks. Anybody caught breaching the quarantine will be liable to a €1,000 fine for every breach.

The World Health Organisation has labelled the coronavirus a pandemic as it continued to spread at an alarming rate in different countries outside China, where the disease originated.

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