GRTU President Paul Abela and Deputy
President Philip Fenech have this week participated in a public consultation
session where the Minister of Finance Edward Scicluna discussed Malta's
financial situation.
In reply to GRTU Hon Scicluna
said that the loan worth €52 million which was provided by the European
Commission, to prevent the collapse of Air Malta, was a one time occurrence
which will not be given to the airline a second time, so it is crucial to get
it right.
It has been forecasted that in
March 2014, Air Malta's financials may experience €30 million in losses, the
year in which the airline should be heading for a breakeven situation.
This concern was raised by
Philip Fenech during one of a series of public consultation sessions organised
by the Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee (MEUSAC). Mr Fenech expressed his
concern over Air Malta's future and the fact that flights to Libya had been
stopped as a result of the war, which comes at a time when the national carrier
is attempting to break even"It is the interest of every citizen, of the
industry and mine that Air Malta reaches its targets…but your guess is as good
as mine," Scicluna replied.
Following these remarks, Prof.
Scicluna reiterated that the Budget 2015 targeted those who were on social
benefits, by encouraging them to join the workforce. In this regard GRTU
President Paul Abela said that GRTU will be sending its budget proposal list as
usual and it will focus on increasing access to finance and the recommendation
to include favourable interest rates for businesses. GRTU is concerned that the
level of bank lending to business has decreased which would continue to hinder
Malta's economy and therefore it requests that the Government should intervene
to improve this situation.
GRTU in
collaboration with Bank of Valletta have this week held an information session
focusing on SME financing. During
this session CEO Abigail Psaila Mamo mentioned that 99.8% of Maltese
enterprises are SMEs and 94% of these consist of micro enterprises.
The smaller
the enterprise the more vulnerable it is in accessing finances. She also
mentioned that GRTU is concerned that the level of lending is declining.
However it is also evident that lending to SMEs has declined.
This
session focused on funding programmes that are aimed at addressing negative
situations in financing caused by the financial crisis. The funding programmes
available included:
COSME
This
programme was presented by Maciej Otulak, European Commission,
Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry, Unit SME Access to Finance
which is currently working on the 2014-2020 programme for the competitiveness
of enterprises and SMEs (COSME). He explained that the programme's aim is to
increase access to finance for SMEs through appropriate financial instruments
such as mutual guarantee societies, banks lending and equity participations for
early and growth stage investments. The COSME programme focuses on high risk
loans which would most likely not be able to acquire financing. This financial
instrument has 2 funding opportunities which include:
Loan Guarantee Facility
guarantees for
loans to SMEs up to € 150 000*
securitisation of SME debt finance
portfolios
* above €
150 000 for SMEs not qualifying for InnovFin (Horizon 2020)
Equity Facility for Growth
focus: growth
stage
final beneficiaries: growth-oriented
SMEs
also possible: early stage and
multistage funds
BOV Start Plus
During the information session Mark Scicluna Herrera Head of the EU
Business Development at BOV introduced the BOV Start Plus. This business loan
is aimed at start-ups and micro enterprises who need funding for investment
purposes and initial related working capital requirements.
Loan offer and
criteria:
Up to €25,000 loanAll sectors eligible excluding
agriculture/fisheries (some restrictions on transport)
Contributes 20% of total investment
Maximum loan term: 5 years (minimum
maturity 1 year)
Monthly repayments. A moratorium of
up to 6 months may be considered.
No extendible security is being
requested on this lending facility.
No annual processing fees and early
repayment fees.
4.65%
Interest Rate (as from 16th June 2014)
Available till 16th December 2016 (or
until funds are fully absorbed)
For further
information kindly contact via email: or telephone: 2275 1160
Karl Herrera
explained that through the Micro Guarantee, eligible enterprises may obtain a
guarantee covering loans of up to €100,000 which are used to finance projects
leading to business enhancement, growth and development.
This is
a one time incentive available to business, including start-ups, that have:
at least 1 but
not more than 50 (full-time equivalent) employees; and
a turnover and balance sheet total
that does not exceed €10 million
Applicants are required be adhering
to regularity and fiscal obligations
Micro Guarantee 80%
Available
to enterprises having at least two full time employees that:
are
engaged in the production and manufacture
provide services related to
production and manufacture
offer an innovative product or
service and which operate within a
non-saturated local market
The proposed projects should lead to:
generation of new jobs
growth in foreign markets
Micro Guarantee 65%
Available to all eligible
enterprises that require funding for projects leading to:
the establishment
of new business
the provision of new or improved
products, services or processes
the adoption of new technology
reduction in operating costs
increase in sales
retention or generation of jobs
increased productivity
growth in foreign markets
Further information in the Micro Guarantee can be found at:
Long term
sustainability requires a balance between sustainability in economic, socio-cultural
and environmental terms. The need to reconcile economic growth and sustainable
development also brings in an ethical dimension.
The main
objective of this call is to strengthen competitiveness of the European tourism
sector as well as its sustainability by encouraging diversification of the
supply of tourist services and products.
The
project proposals should aim at promoting sustainable transnational tourism
products ( such as e.g: routes, itineraries, trails, tourism offer…) in sport
or wellness activities in relation to one of the following types of tourism:
coastal or maritime or mountain or rural tourism.
Eligibility of applicants
Applicants must
belong to one of the categories mentioned in section 6 of the call and be
active in the tourism sector or any other field that is strictly related to the
object of the proposal.
Applicants must be located in EU
Member States and/or countries participating in the COSME programme under
Article 6 of the COSME Regulation.
Proposals should be presented by
consortia made of minimum 5 legal entities, covering at least 4 EU Member
States or countries participating in COSME.
At a special
meeting of the European Council on 30 August, European leaders called for
speedy implementation of the 2014 European Semester country-specific
recommendations endorsed on 27 June as well as of the Strategic Agenda with its
strong focus on jobs, growth and competitiveness.
EU leaders responded to
concerns that despite significant improvements in financial market conditions
and the structural efforts made by Member States, the recovery, particularly in
the euro area, is weak, inflation is exceptionally low and unemployment remains
unacceptably high. Leaders also supported an initiative by the Italian
government to hold a conference in October at the level of Heads of State and
Government on employment, especially youth employment, following those held in
Berlin and Paris. The October European Council will address the economic
situation and a dedicated Euro Summit will be convened. EU leaders elected
Donald Tusk as President of the European Council for the period from 1 December
2014 to 31 May 2017 and appointed him as President of the Euro Summit for the
same period.
The European
has launched its public consultation to collect ideas and feedback on how the
"Small Business Act" for Europe (SBA) can be reviewed in order to ensure a European
policy that continues to support Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and
entrepreneurs 2015-2020.
The SBA was adopted in 2008 and reviewed in 2011 so as
to recognise the considerable role of SMEs in the European economy. Europe
2020, the Commission's chief reform strategy, also places SMEs on the pedestal
due to their high potential for employment. In fact SMEs account for 87 million
employed citizens and 85 per cent of net job creation.
Through
its public consultation, the Commission seeks to ensure the SBA is in a
suitable position to deal with future challenges. This can only be done by
receiving input from all the interested parties, including both entrepreneurs
and business organisations. Interested parties can answer an online questionnaire
at http://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/NewSBAsurvey2014 and voice their
opinions on which future direction the Commission should take with the SBA.
This consultation will remain open until 15 December 2014.
The
Commission aims to preserve emphasis on the current key action areas. These are
increased access to finance, a reduction of administrative burdens, easier
access to markets and the promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation. In
addition to this, a new pillar has been added which focuses on skills
development. Although European SMEs are so significant in job creation, they
can only create jobs when they in turn grow. In order to grow they require
workers that possess relevant skills, which highlights the importance of this
new pillar. The SBA is an initiative that is beneficial to all EU citizens and
with this public consultation it can now be revised in order to better handle
future obstacles.
In October
2014, EU countries that heavily rely on coal are expected to receive billions
in funding to cut greenhouse emissions. Specifically, EU leaders are expected
to stimulate Eastern European countries to sign up for the new 2030 climate
goal, which aims to cut emissions by 30%.
This new target comes after a review
of the Energy Efficiency Directive by the European Commission. Although some
countries (like Germany) are expected to meet the goals ahead of time, other
counties (like Bulgaria and Romania) face industrial challenges that require
extra funding.
To learn more
about the EC's 2030 policy framework for climate and energy, visit
On the 21st of
August the private research group Markit published its Flash Eurozone Composite
Output Index. This showed that the Eurozone economy continues to recover
however at a very small pace that only predicts very limited growth for the
near future.
Despite the index having been above the neutral level of 50.0
(52.8 for the month of August) the GDP growth was only at 0.3%. The
manufacturing sector in particular is experiencing a period of slow economic
expansion. The services sector is doing marginally better but nevertheless
growth reclined here as well. Overall this had a negative effect on
unemployment with companies not feeling safe enough to engage in large scale
hiring. In addition the geopolitical uncertainties are contributing further to
this slow economic recovery.
With increased
globalisation comes the need to translate language and services to be
recognisable across countries and continents. Two such examples, the IBAN and
BIC, deal with the banking sector and facilitate swifter electronic
transactions. An IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is a series of up to
34 alphanumeric characters that was established in order to standardise the
identification of bank accounts worldwide.
Thus the
IBAN allows bank accounts to be recognised from anywhere in the world in order
to allow international payments to and from Europe, including the 34 Single
Euro Payments Area (SEPA) countries. The existing bank account numbers are not
replaced as the IBAN simply adds more characters. Along with the IBAN, the BIC
(Bank Identifier Code) is another important code that is composed of either
8-11 alphanumeric characters. These codes allow customers to effect payments
electronically and therefore problems arise when service providers fail to
display their IBAN and BIC on the invoices they issue.
Article
4(4) of EC Regulation 924/2009 states that:
"Where appropriate, with regard to the nature of the payment
transaction concerned, for all invoicing of goods and services in the
Community, a supplier of goods and services that accepts payments covered by
this Regulation shall communicate its IBAN and the BIC of its payment service
provider to its customers."
This
Regulation has since been amended by Regulation 260/2012, which states that 1
February 2014 was the set deadline in the euro area for compliance with the
Regulation's core provisions. For countries external to the euro area the
deadline will be 31 October 2016. In most SEPA countries, a national website
dedicated to SEPA is available. The Malta Bankers' Association provides useful
information on SEPA at the following link: http://www.maltabankers.org/sepa?l=1.
Russian
sanctions on food products, a response to EU action following the ongoing
crisis in Ukraine, could have a significant impact on the stability of prices
in the retail sector. The restrictions, which apply to the farming sector, have
been places on the trade of food products such as fruits and vegetables, dairy
and meat products.
Although
this may give rise to pricing opportunities initially the situation is likely
to have a considerably more negative impact on the sector in the long term as
tensions in the supply chain increase. Recent developments and how this will
affect commerce in the Member States will be discussed at the Steering
Committee later this month.
