Next year’s Budget will be safeguarding jobs in all economic sectors, including in arts and recreation, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Tuesday.

Speaking during a meeting with representatives of the Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association (MEIA), Abela said the country had been successful in saving jobs successfully containing, and reducing, unemployment.

While this grew by 0.8% in the eurozone, in Malta it had dropped by 0.4%, he said.

He stressed the importance of a robust economy and insisted it was factually incorrect to argue that his government chose economy over health. The two sectors worked hand in hand as a country could not have a strong economy unless the health of its people was safeguarded. Likewise, health needed a strong economic development.
 
MEIA president Howard Keith Debono presented Abela with 10 measures for the upcoming Budget which, he said, treated the COVID-19 pandemic challenge in a holistic manner.

The measures targeted the thousands who worked in the sector and also consumers. He noted that the sector had grown at a fast pace in recent years contributing substantially to the country’s economy.

The government, he said, had done a lot of good and this had to be built upon. The aim of the association, Debono said, was to safeguard the professionals in the sector and it was important that schools of art were reopened for the benefit of children and their parents.