TVM says The Scope German credit agency has again confirmed Malta’s rating at A+ level with stable prospects.
Newsbook says an IT expert is to be appointed to derive the necessary information from contractor Glen Farrugia’s mobile phone and CCTV camera footage, to shed light on construction worker Lamin Jaiteh’s incident.
Times of Malta says Yorgen Fenech’s defence team is insisting on full disclosure of evidence in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case, saying that without that there “will be no trial”.
MaltaToday says Floriana FC supporters racially abused St Lucia goalkeeper Julani Archibald in their opening match of the season
Mid-Day Briefing
Covid-19 Update: Covid-19 cases declined further on Friday, with 23 recoveries exceeding the ten new cases reported by health authorities. Active cases stand at 251. During the last 24 hours, an 86-year-old became Malta’s 460th Covid-related death.
Further investment in community policing, closure of Marsa Open Centre announced: Government has announced a further investment in community policing, taking the number of localities covered from the concept from 22 to 43 until the end of next year, including all of Gozo. Addressing a press briefing, Internal Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri also announced “a new look for police officers is also becoming a reality in the coming year in order to change the perception of approaching a police officer. Better communication and being present in the community is a vital pillar the police force works towards.”
The police reform will also include the introduction of specific units such as the domestic violence unit. Camilleri also touched at length the delicate issue of migration, highlighting the agreement the government signed with Libya in order to “prevent human trafficking and also the useless deaths of hundreds of people in the Mediterranean.” He also revealed that authorities are planning to close the open centre in Marsa in the coming months.
31 new vehicles on the road every day in last three months: In the third quarter of 2021, the number of vehicles on the Maltese roads increased by 2,851 over the previous quarter, meaning that more than 30 cars were added on the road every day. The NSO said that at the end of September 2021, the stock of licensed motor vehicles stood at 411,056. Out of this total, 76.0% were passenger cars, 13.8% were commercial motor vehicles, 9.1% were motorcycles, while buses and minibuses amounted to less than 1%.
Morning Briefing
Fearne urges booster shot take-up as Europe cases pick up
Health Minister Chris Fearne urged people to accept the Covid booster, as cases around Europe were increasing over the past days. he noted that despite Malta having so fair avoided a spike in cases, Europe was the only region experiencing increases. “The onset of cold weather and, quite frankly, COVID fatigue are certainly contributing to the rising numbers. The positivity rate in Malta remains relatively low at around one per cent,” he said in comments to The Times of Malta. 17 new COVID cases were reported by health authorities who on Thursday said a further 14 people recovered. 17 people are hospitalised, 4 of whom are in the ITU.
Youths want to move abroad
A new survey has found that some 60% of millenials and generation-Z youths would rather move abroad to elsewhere in Europe than stay in Malta. The 4th EY Generate Youth Survey 2021 found that only 28% of Gen-Z youths and 26% of millenials want to stay in Malta, with 60% of the former and 59% of the latter stating that they preferred to move elsewhere in Europe.
Such result shows an increase of 12% in millenials and 3% in Gen-Z. Smaller percentages said they would rather move to North America, Asia or Australia over staying in Malta as well. “While spending some time away from our shores is certainly beneficial as it opens young people up to different cultures, experiences, and ways of living, it should be noted as a cause for concern,” the survey’s authors wrote in their introduction. Overdevelopment was placed as Malta’s biggest challenge (68%), followed by the environment (55%), traffic (26%), the country’s international image (24%) and the economy (21%).
FATF sees good progress by Malta in implementing its action plan
Malta has made “good progress” in implementing an action plan to seek removal from the FATF grey-listing though more work is required to reach such objective. FATF president Marcus Pleyer said in a press briefing today that since Malta’s grey-listing in June, more intelligence had been disseminated to police about potential tax crimes, leading to more tax investigations.
Pleyer highlighted the fact that significant fines had also been issued for the filing of incorrect company ownership details with the Malta business registry. He cautioned that more work remains, as none of the points on Malta’s action plan had been largely addressed in the short time since the country’s grey listing. (Times of Malta)
Malta debt levels increase further
At the end of June, General Government debt has exceeded the €8 billion mark (€8,025.8 million), or 59.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This reflects an increase of €1,368.1 million over the corresponding quarter in 2020, largely reflected in Central Government Debt, which amounted to €8,022.9 million. According to financial estimates provided with Budget 2022, government is expecting to close off 2021 with a public deficit of €1.545 Billion, equivalent to 11% of GDP and with a public debt €8.56 Billion, which is equivalent to 61.32% of GDP. In 2022 Government is forecasting a public deficit of €850 million which would be equivalent to 5.6% of GDP, with the public debt increasing to of €9.37 billion by end 2022 – that’s 61.8% of GDP.
CDE News
