Coronavirus: More economic aid needed with 'great urgency' - Chamber of SMEs

The Malta Chamber of SMEs has welcomed the government measures announced today to close all non-essential shops and to ban public gatherings.

The SMEs Chamber, however, underlined the urgent need for the government to provide more aid to businesses.

"Many businesses in the non-essential category have themselves decided to close in the past week due to lack of business and also unjustified risk for their staff and spreading further the disease. Malta has now effectively made another decisive move towards the lockdown," the SMEs Chamber said.

"As a Chamber of SMEs we thank the health authorities as well as all the essential private sector operators. Pharmacies, operators in the food chain and other front-liners are working tirelessly to continue supplying their service in this time of need. We emphasize with the public and private sector about observing public health direction so that this time of sacrifice reaches the desired objectives," it said.

The Chamber called for greater clarity from the authorities in terms of the exact list of operations that will be allowed to continue.

"As an SME Chamber we are in receipt of many queries asking about further details on the latest announcements. These include dispensing  opticians, queries related to working behind closed doors, deliveries that were planned as well as repair services. We call on the government to publish the full information that would be required with such announcements since immediate decisions affecting Human Resources would need to be taken."

The Chamber lamented that the new steps to safeguard public health were unfortunately not accompanied by the necessary economic support measures.

"The UK government has just made such announcements a few days ago and these were accompanied by strong measures that avoided much pressure on enterprises and their employees. The UK government in-fact announced wage subsidies covering 80% of wages up to €2,700 a month per worker. Similarly the Danish government is committed to cover 75% of workers’ salaries, up to €3,000 for the coming months."

"The economic pressures are extremely worrying and an emergency response mechanism is needed today. Employers and their employees are trying to push through impossible situations that are affecting their day-to-day life and mental health, hoping for a breakthrough in discussions. A message of economic hope is necessary for our country and community not to go into a further deteriorating economic state. Every day that passes is a day too late for the immediate measures necessary, causing very big damage to businesses and leading to redundancies," the SMEs Chamber added.