Over €10 Million In COVID-19 Wage Supplements Have Already Been Given Out In Malta
Over €10 million has been handed out in Malta as part of a state wage supplement aimed at curbing the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
The millions in support come as the Economy Ministry sent a number of proposed measures to the Health Authority for the gradual lifting of the current restrictions on various economic sectors.
Minister for the Economy Silvio Schembri said that the focus of the ministry’s work has now shifted on means to re-stimulate the economy once health measures start to be lifted gradually.
“The economic support measures will not be stopped abruptly when businesses reopen but will remain in place until businesses would have started to recover substantially,” Schembri said.
“I would like to thank all stakeholders for being proactive and for putting forward their own well-studied measures. It is crucial that throughout the transition from exit to restart strategy, everyone works hand in hand for our economy to come back on its feet,” he continued.
83,000 employees have benefitted from the supplement, and more than 2,000 applicants have yet to reply to Malta Enterprise application approval email.
18,204 Maltese businesses have so far received wage supplements, aimed at companies being able to retain their staff and pay their wages as Malta’s economy feels the burn from the COVID-19 crisis.
“Malta Enterprise is working around the clock to process as many applications as possible with the aim to process 50% of the applications by next week. The processing of applications requires Malta Enterprise to do several verifications on each application to ascertain that there are no abuses, assistance is only given to those eligible and to ensure the best use of public funds,” according to Schembri.
Malta Enterprise CEO Kurt Farrugia said that the scope isn’t to point out the increase in the number of applications received, and urged those who hadn’t replied to their approval emails to get back to them,
“I urge applicants to check their emails and reply to the corporation’s email so that the approved supplements can be disbursed directly to the applicants’ bank account,” ended Farrugia.
Photos: MEIB
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