[WATCH] Coronavirus: Businesses in trouble but government not helping - PN

The government’s lack of putting in place measures to help businesses sinking under the burden of the coronavirus’ economic repercussions is placing people’s livelihoods at risk, PN MP Robert Arrigo said.

Arrigo, who was addressing a press conference on Wednesday, said that the measures announced by the government last week were “horrific” and have led to fear and the closure of many businesses.

“The government has known for weeks about the virus - 75 days to be exact. It’s lack of action means it is playing with the livelihoods of many people,” Arrigo said.

Arrigo reiterated the PN’s proposals, including for the government to shoulder the quarantine leave burden; to cover 50% of employees’ salaries at a capped level agreed on by social partners; to together with the banking sector draw up proposals for helping with loan repayments; and to offer and guarantee loan packages for those who needed them.

“Businesses need oxygen to make it till October,” the PN said.

“It is clear the government is against businesses, especially the self-employed, who contributed tax and VAT for years,” he said.

The PN also warned that the hotel industry was losing €10 million a week, and that it was as yet unknown how many potential bookings would be lost.

PN MP Hermann Schiavone painted a similarly worrying picture of how things were going in the catering sector.

“The situation today is devastating in the catering sector. Owners don’t know how the get out of it,” he said.

He took urged the government to cover 50% of workers pay, and appealed for it to waive catering establishments’ licence fee for this year, and to reduce water and power tariffs for homes and businesses by 50%.
Nationalist MP Ryan Callus said Economy Minister’s Silvio Schembri’s comments in Parliament yesterday about foreigners on work permits having to leave Malta if they lost their job were “unacceptable.” Schembri has since apologised and said such workers would not have their permits terminated.

Callus said the pandemic has shown that the government’s economic model based on population growth was a wrong one. “The current economic model made it attractive to many Maltese to buy property and take long-term loans on it… they thought the government’s economic model would mean the would earn rent [from foreigners renting].”

He added that, despite the bad economic model it had itself adopted, the government was not doing enough to shoulder the burden for workers and to save jobs.