Budget focus on job creation, €20 million for Air Malta

Budget allocates €14.7 million for incentives to industry, an increase of five million euro on last year.

This past year, 35 projects for factories and companies have been approved so far with an investment of €145 million. These projects are expected to create 700 jobs over three years.

€3 million over a three-year period in fiscal incentives to those industries which consume more than 2Gwh per year and which invest in energy-saving measures and in systems which produce energy from clean sources.

BioMalta Campus industrial park €30 million investment for research and industrial innovation in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry. This project is also linked to the participation of the company Sultan Scientific which will launch the 200 million euro Global Medi-Science Fund based in Malta.

€16 million in ongoing works at industrial estates.

Service charge for factory sites reduced to €3.50 per square metre and collected by tenants' associations: if the amount collected is higher than what is needed for the maintenance of the zone, the surplus will be returned or an adjustment is made in that zone's service charge.

Extension of fiscal incentives which we launched in the financial services and online gaming sectors to three other categories:

-         to those Maltese with 'prestigious' career and who wish to return to our country to work in important industrial sectors;

-         to highly qualified and skilled foreign workers who are required for certain industrial sectors; and

-         to those persons who would like to carry out research or market an invention or technology in Malta.

Increasing the amount allocated for research to the Malta Council for Science and Technology to 1.6 million euro.

€3.5 million Interactive Science Center.

Small and medium sized enterprises

Guarantee scheme on bank loans intended to incentivize business and the creation of jobs in small businesses. Through this scheme, the Government will provide bank guarantees on loans to existing or new and viable enterprises which need capital to invest and work. This scheme will:

- be run together with commercial banks and according to commercial criteria;

- be applicable to enterprises which employ up to 20 persons;

- be applicable for loans for capital investment or working capital;

- guarantee loans of between 2,500 and 100,000 euro from commercial banks;

- guarantee 90 per cent of the loan, while the rest must be guaranteed by the borrower; and will

- guarantee loans which will mature in three months to 10 years.

February 2012 - another call for the financing of projects with a value of 8 million euro.

€550,000 to improve industrial zones not under the Government's direct responsibility.

Consultative Body and a College of Regulators with the aim of advising the government on the formulation and the implementation of enterprise policy and regarding the regulatory policy for the sector.

Tourism

Increasing the Malta Tourism Authority's allocation by a million euro, to reach a total of €36 million.

€3 million euro for marketing and €4.5 for the opening of new air routes.

€4.2 million to pursue work other projects throughout next year. These include Aquarium in Qawra and Pembroke Gardens, where work has now started.

€4.2 million in archaeological sites around Malta and Gozo to continue increasing the value of the tourist's experience in our country.

Throughout 2012, Local Councils and various associations will benefit from €3.3 million in European Union and Maltese Government Funds during 2012 to carry out a number of projects concerning the physical appearance and history of our country's localities. They include Ta' Pinu and the Victoria Foundation in Gozo, historic centres in various villages, and public gardens.

Airmalta

€20 million euro to the restructuring of Airmalta, which will increase in the following years according to the restructuring plan. The European Commission is expecting the Government's final plan but this cannot be presented if there is no agreement on the fundamental changes in work practices which have to be made.

"Without these changes, the plan will fail. The Government believes that the final packet offered by the company management concerning retirement schemes as well as the changes requested and the compensation offered are reasonable. Refusing them can only lead to the outsourcing of certain operations or to the reduction of employees according to our country's laws."