Close to 18,000 enquiries have been made by businesses on the aid packages rolled out by the government in the wake of the economic shock caused by the outbreak of coronavirus, the Economy Minister said on Monday.

Replying to a series of parliamentary questions, Silvio Schembri shot down the Opposition's claims that the government had adopted a selective approach by leaving out over 110,000 employees. 

“Like in a state of war, priority must be given to those on the front line - the ones sustaining the most serious injuries,” Schembri said.

He said that as from Monday morning, Malta Enterprise had widened the list of eligible businesses. He did not go into detail, but noted that film producers and photographers were among those who had been added to the list. 

Earlier, Opposition whip Robert Cutajar asked if there was any aid in the pipeline for employees in the ICT, financial services and the agricultural sectors.

Schembri said the government was using the NACE code (the classification of economic activities used by the EU) as a guideline for which sectors should benefit. The list of eligible sectors was continually being reviewed.

He added that at the moment it did not make sense to offer aid to sectors like supermarkets because in the current circumstances their level of operations had increased dramatically.  

Similarly, factories whose operations had not been significantly affected were not being considered.

The economy minister said that the dedicated helpline 144 had been inundated with calls when it was first launched on March 16 and he admitted it could not cope.

Noting that the situation had improved since then, he said that over 8,000 enquiries, out of 18,000 had been handled so far.

Moreover, Malta Enterprise had received requests for information through email, telephone and Facebook. Some 3,000 enquiries were made directly to the minister and his secretariat.