Economy Minister Silvio Schembri on Thursday skirted questions about a re-issue of COVID-19 vouchers during a business breakfast which heard that 96 per cent of residents look forward to another round.
By Wednesday, 81.2 per cent, or the equivalent of 1.81 million out of 2.23million of government vouchers, were redeemed at hotels or food outlets. The vouchers, issued to 440,000 people to the value of €44million, expire at the end of the month.
Around 98 per cent of eligible Maltese residents collected the vouchers, while only two-thirds of EU citizens collected theirs. Nearly 83 per cent of eligible non-EU residents collected theirs.
So far, the multiplier effect of the red vouchers (redeemed at food and accommodation outlets) was 1.36, meaning that for every €20 voucher, an average of €7.16 was spent. This means that the total spend generated by the red vouchers was €40.2million.
When it comes to the blue vouchers, redeemed at retail outlets, the multiplier effect was 1.82, meaning that for every €20, an additional €16.42 was spent, with a total spend of €12.4million.
€1.1billion was deposited at banks in the first seven months of this year
In all, a total of 36.4million of vouchers have been redeemed, generating an additional €16.2million and therefore a total of €52.6million.
Cash instead of vouchers?
Answering questions related to the vouchers scheme, Schembri said the pandemic, which hit Malta on the back of a strong economy, did not bring about liquidity issues for families, but consumers felt understandably uncertain and fearful.
He added that deposits in banks grew exponentially during the first months of the year, meaning that people were saving money. Had the government handed out cash, instead of vouchers, this money would have also gone into savings accounts, instead of towards stimulating the country’s economy.
Schembri said that the equivalent of €1.1billion was deposited at banks in the first seven months of this year, compared to €100million between January and July of 2019.
In August the minister had hinted at another round of vouchers and several stakeholders, including the Chamber of Commerce, has called for their reissuing.
Answering questions specifically about a second round, Schembri said that the upcoming budget needed to cover all social sectors and aspects of the country’s economy, not just the COVID-19 pandemic.
November and December are going to be challenging months and the government needed to make sure that businesses retained their employees, he added.
Addressing the same conference, the CEO of the Chamber of SMEs, Abigail Mamo, said that the increase in the number of new virus cases was having a ripple effect on the number of customers frequenting shops. Businesses, she said, were looking forward to Christmastime, however, the chamber believed that a second round of vouchers should cover more sectors, including events and entertainment businesses.
Other stakeholders called for the reissuing of vouchers after the end of this year, as they would be seeing some sort of recovery ahead of Easter 2021.
Survey shows 54 per cent would like Christmas vouchers
More than half the respondents in a survey conducted by statistician and researcher Vince Marmarà would like to spend a second round of vouchers around Christmastime.
According to the same survey, 95.7 per cent of Malta’s population agrees with the reissuing of the vouchers.
Nearly a fifth - mostly those aged over 66 - would find the vouchers useful any time of the year, while another nine per cent would like to spend the vouchers in winter 2021.
A third would like the opportunity to redeem the vouchers anywhere, while a quarter would prefer to spend them on accommodation, at restaurants and retail outlets.
Ten per cent would like to be given the opportunity to spend them on groceries.
While four-fifths of respondents would not change anything about the way the vouchers were delivered, another six per cent would prefer an online service.
Asked specifically whether they would prefer to download the vouchers, a fifth said they would prefer this system.
Vouchers in numbers
A record of 54,000 vouchers used on August 8
A total of 5,720 outlets received vouchers
Gozo saw an injection of over €5.2million including the multiplier effect
90 per cent used the vouchers themselves, while another 10 per cent passed them on to others (according to survey)