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At the beginning of this year, businesses expressed great concern about their projections for 2021 and unfortunately things have reached a stage of stalemate.

Covid has now been with us for a full year and with all the challenges this brought, including not knowing how long it will be with us and what will its real impact be, Malta still cannot move forward without a plan.

Businesses are walking into 2021 with a blindfold.

The level of economic damage the Government is doing, going one day into the next without a plan is substantial. Equally worrying would be if Government had a plan that it is keeping to itself. The Government has an obligation to communicate its economic plans and inform social partners of what this plan is. This not just for the sake of transparency but also because the Government cannot think that businesses can survive without any visibility and that any economic reform can take place without the government and without social partners being involved.

Whilst we appreciate the risk for the government in taking commitments in such a fluid circumstance, we insist that there is no choice in this. The business community is taking big risks at the moment trying to survive this crises and the government must do everything in its power to help and walk the tightrope alongside businesses.

Other countries have made different scenarios public. Other countries have a planned gradual re-opening of the economy.

Where is Malta’s strategy to reduce the numbers in the immediate? What is Malta’s economic plan for 2021? Which are the economic sectors Malta is going to diversify in?

Malta cannot continue to fluctuate one week after another around the 150-200 cases. There has not been any real improvement and the economy cannot wait any longer. We need to bring the number down so that the safe economic momentum so direly needed can start.

Four vaccines and a full year of experience of how this virus behaves have not resulted into any economic benefits. We are running very late on this.

Malta Chamber of SMEs has raised a number of concerns that were being voiced by members that have been experiencing issues since Brexit. This mainly relates to heavy bureaucracy when importing from the UK, lack of clarity on procedures and application of tax rules as well as issues related to viability of maintaining the business relationship.

The SME Chamber also made a number of suggestions in order to improve the bureaucratic burden involved.

Dr Mario Vella, Brexit Special Commissioner, understands what an adjustment Brexit will be and he is working on seeing how to improve matters in the immediate. Dr Vella explained that it is imperative for Malta to function at its best in dealing with Brexit. He also mentioned that he is studying the situation and comparing to what other similar countries are doing in order to be able to make beneficial improvements in the coming weeks.

Members experiencing issues because of Brexit need to get in touch with the Chamber of SMEs at the earliest in order to include in our meetings with the Commissioner.

A webinar which will launch the research results of the Research into the current situation of people with disabilities and employment in Malta and the Employers’ Guidelines.

This research forms part of the ESF 2.63 Project – Knowledge, Training, Communications and Support Measures in Support of Vulnerable Groups. The beneficiary of this project is the Ministry for the Family, Children’s Rights and Social Solidarity (MFCS), and CRPD is a partner organisation in this project. This research was commissioned through a public tender to Ernst and Young

(Malta), with Dr Anne-Marie Callus as the key expert on disability.

 

Date: Friday 26th February 2021

Time: 10.00-12.00

Register in advance for this webinar: https://universityofmalta.zoom.us/…/WN_aa7ko5hJQZ…

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

This event will be live streamed on CRPD’s Facebook Page from the Valletta University Campus. Sign Language interpretation will also be provided during the event. This online webinar will be held in Maltese.

If you require any assistance during the event or require Maltese to English interpretation, kindly contact  For more information: https://www.crpd.org.mt/employment-webinar/

The SME Chamber gladly welcomed an invitation to meet by MEP Cyrus Engerer. MEP Engerer joined the group of Maltese MEPs very recently and he explained however that work by himself and his team is already in full swing since his previous experience in working with EU institutions and structure served him well in finding solid ground fast.

MEP Engerer explained that he is a member of four committees which cover the subjects of environment, food safety, justice and home affairs as well as energy and research.

SME Chamber CEO emphasized how important it is to keep a close contact relationship between Maltese MEPs and the Chamber in view of its wide representation. MEPs should ensure that the most important pieces of legislation that impact businesses should go through a national consultation process through the social partners.

Apart from this, MEPs should be our voice against a one-size-fits-all. Business demographics in Malta show a much larger predominance of micro and small businesses and much fewer medium and large businesses. As such the overall burden of implementing rules would be much heavier on businesses and therefore on Malta.

Mr Engerer agreed and stated that even though this takes up a significant part of his work he ensures to advocate this matter at every occasion.

Bar owners will receive a one-time payment of up to €2,870 to cover the five-month period they spent shut to help curb the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo told a press conference on Friday that the €2.2million financial aid scheme for bars would be split across three categories: commercial bars, bars that are housed within a club (kazin), and bars owned by clubs.

Political party clubs have been excluded from the scheme.

While commercial bars will receive a one-time payment of €2,870, those forming part of a club will receive €1,860. Bars owned by non-political clubs will receive €1,260.

Owners must submit their applications between March 1 and March 15 Category A, Category B or Category C.

Applications will be processed within two weeks.

Bars and social clubs were shuttered in October when the number of new infections spiked.

They were set to reopen on December 1 but the measures were extended for another two months until the end of January. That date was pushed back yet again by the government earlier this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Deadline Friday the 5th of February 2021

In line with article IX of the SME Chamber Statute.

The Executive Council is inviting and accepting nominations by Members of persons willing to form and part of and serve as the Electoral Commission. 

The Electoral Commission has to meet within six (6) days from the publication of the result and appoint a Chairman from amongst its Members. 

None of the Members of the standing Executive Council or any candidate for election may form part of the Electoral Commission.

 

The Terms of Reference of this Commission are the following:- 

2020 was not a good year for small and medium enterprises, and if they don’t receive the help they need, a good number of them will end up shutting up shop, the Malta Chamber of SMEs warned. Only one third of the businesses believe that they can survive beyond 2021 in the prevailing circumstances.

This was stated during a press conference detailing the results of the State of Business survey for 2020, which is undertaken every year. The survey highlights certain aspects of small and medium enterprises which show the state of their businesses and prospects for it.

Click here to download full survey

The State of Business survey interviewed 230 busines. These include a wide variety of enterprises from various business sectors.

One of the points that was highlighted was that there were some businesses which were not ordered to close, but since they depend on other businesses, they had to close as well. This is as some of the businesses that they were providing products or services to had to close, so it wouldn’t have been sustainable to stay open.

The survey showed that the biggest concerns in terms of financial constraints were low sales levels (26%), cash flow (17%), and problems in collecting payment (15%), among others.

Malta Chamber of SMEs President Mr Paul Abela insisted that the current situation “is not good at all” and appealed to all businesses to stay positive. He continued, “this is like a person was in ITU and he got out of ITU”.

Abela observed what the government can do to aid such businesses, namely with the help of extending the moratorium of banks and the wage supplement.

“The moratorium of banks should stay there, and I will continue to appeal to the government about this.

CEO Abigail Mamo noted that from the survey, it showed that businesses are having the courage to pay their loans and pay for innovative transitions, but they still need help. “There are a lot of businesses trying to pay, even though they find themselves in a dire situation. If from March onwards the moratorium won’t be extended, we fear there is going to be a big problem.”

Vice President Marcel Mizzi said that there is a stark difference between what was seen in 2019 when compared to 2020. “Every year I usually say good things, but this year was shocking. There is the need of more help, otherwise a lot of businesses will end up closing.”

13% of businesses surveyed said that they can only survive in the current situation for up to 3 months, while 32% said they can last longer than 12 months.

One of the outstanding features is that 69% of the businesses said that they would require the wage supplement for up to 12 months.

In terms of how long businesses need an extension to the bank moratorium (which includes only businesses who were already benefiting from it), 48% said longer than 12 months and 43% said that they need up to 12 months.

A number of businesses are also not confident that the vaccine will have a great affect, with 49% saying that Covid-19 will be with us for much longer.

Another grim feature in the survey results is that 82% of businesses reported a decrease in their sales; 43% of the businesses surveyed said that their sales had decreased by up to 50% or more.

On a positive note, 18% of businesses which saw an increase in sales said that it was due to more online presence, something which Mizzi noted he had been promoting for years.  “Necessity is the mother of all innovation,” he said.

Change in consumer preferences also had 16% of the share, with one of the main reasons being that people were spending more time in their homes and buying items related to it, the chamber noted.

Compared to previous years, the 2020 festive season was also a bleak one for small and medium enterprises, with 83% reporting that their business fared worse than in previous years. “Compared to other festive seasons, it was a total disaster,” Mizzi said.

Asked about what their plans are for 2021, 32% of businesses said they are going to keep it the same size as in 2020, while 16% said they will try to offer their products or services online.

The SME Chamber noted that “this is encouraging, as although 2020 was a tough year, businesses are still trying to keep their heads up” .

The Malta Chamber of SMEs said that they’re trying to find solutions with the government. They are trying to ameliorate the situation, trying to get businesses to get innovative.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=677646946337054&ref=external

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