COVID 19 – Additional tax and fiscal measures
The government announced a €1.8 billion aid packages for businesses and families on Wednesday, which represents 12.9% of Malta Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2019.
Liquidity and bank guarantees
Liquidity injection and bank guarantees of up to €1.6bn including:
– €700m in tax deferrals
– Loan guarantees of €900m which will cover up €4.5 billion in loans from banks for the private sector; which are expected to lower interest rates
– Possibility of requesting a three-month moratorium for both personal and business loans
– €210m of funds (equal to 1.5% of Malta’s GDP in 2019) being made available to cover expenditure resulting from COVID-19.
Grants for employers and employees
All businesses, including companies and self-employed persons who have suffered from a complete suspension of operations such as accommodation, food and beverage, language schools and entertainment amongst others, will have salaries covered for 2 out of every 5 days of work (based on an assumed monthly salary of €800), up to €3m per week.
Those self-employed individuals having their own employees who have completely come to a halt, who have suffered from a complete suspension of operations such as accommodation, food and beverage, language schools and entertainment amongst others, shall receive a grant equivalent to three days’ salary per week (based on an assumed monthly salary of €800), up to €3m per week.
Businesses whose production has declined by 25% will get 1 day a week of payroll covered (based on a monthly salary of €800), up to €1.6m a week.
Protection of third country nationals including the following measures:
All enterprises terminating active employment contracts shall be denied the possibility of recruiting third-country nationals;
Going forward only applications for highly-skilled third-country workers shall be considered;
In case of job termination, assistance shall be provided to all third-country nationals to find alternative employment.
– A grant of €350 per employee will be given to businesses that have had employees on mandatory quarantine.
Individuals whose full-time employment has been terminated with effect from 9th March 2020 shall benefit from a temporary increase in unemployment benefit of up to €800 monthly.
People with a disability who cannot work from home will also get up to €800 a month.
