Half of the Covid-19 recovery budget to be allocated to green projects / Malta News Briefing – Tuesday 29 June 2021

Updated 0835 – Newspaper Review

L-Orizzont reports that the Cabinet approved a €320 million recovery plan, part of the EU Covid-19 allocation. The government will now present the plan in a special meeting of social partners on Wednesday.

The Times quotes sources that around half of the Covid-19 recovery budget will be allocated to green projects, above the 37 per cent minimum requirement by the European Commission. Another fifth of the €320 million aid budget must go to digitalisation projects.

The Independent says that food prices in Malta were around 12 per cent higher than the EU average in 2020. Figures by Eurostat showed that Malta has the eight highest food prices among members states.

In-Nazzjon leads with the speech in parliament by Opposition Leader Bernard Grech who blamed the government for Malta’s FATF greylisting. He criticised the government for not presenting any plans to restore the country’s reputation.

L-Orizzont follows a debate in parliament during which Finance Minister Clyde Caruana expressed confidence that Malta will return to the FATF whitelist quickly. He said, however, that this is a sensitive subject and the less said about it the better.

The Independent quotes Opposition Leader Bernard Grech that the FATF debacle is the legacy of the Muscat administration and urged Prime Minister Robert Abela to denounce his predecessor.

The Times reports on a heated debate in parliament where Opposition Leader Bernard Grech challenged the Prime Minister to oust Joseph Muscat from the Labour Party follow the grey-listing by the FATF.

Morning Briefing

Government seeks Parliament approval for additional debt

Government sought Parliamentary approval on Monday to increase the maximum permissible government borrowing through treasury bills to €1.3 billion from the current €1 billion. While Finance Minister Clyde Caruana sought to re-assure MPs that the increased expenditure was to be targeted towards Malta’s economic recovery, the Opposition lamented that it has long warned the current Government projections were unfeasible and unrealistic.

Caruana said that the deficit this year would reach 12% of GDP or €1.6 billion, expressing confidence that thanks to economic recovery, it could be halved by next year. The Finance Minister also tackled the recent FATF greylisting, insisting that although he would not minimise the concerns, he was convinced Malta had plenty to fall back on and was in a health position to withstand shocks.

PN Shadow Finance Minister Mario Demarco recalled that the Opposition had long highlighted the unrealistic deficit projections by former Finance Minister Edward Scicluna but stated that the Opposition MPs would still back the bill in view of the country’s delicate situation.

Cabinet approves EU-funded recovery plan

Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi announced in Parliament that the Cabinet has approved the Recovery and Resilience Plan with European funds. The 320 million euro plan will be discussed with the Malta Council for Social and Economic Development, MCESD. Following consultation it will be sent to the European Commission for approval.

The Parliamentary Secretary further stated that the plan can then be presented formally to the European Commission for its approval.

Covid-19 Update

Six persons tested positive over the past 24 hours. As no patients recovered, active cases have gone upto 34. A total of 311,453 people rare now fully vaccinated.