Opposition leader Adrian Delia has slammed the aid package for businesses announced by the government on Wednesday evening.
“It is not true that the government will spend €1.8 billion to help businesses, workers and families. The maximum outlay will be €175m in direct assistance. This amount is insufficient,” Delia said in a press conference on Thursday.
He said it was clear that €700 million of the government’s package would be tax deferrals, which was inadequate for companies struggling to simply survive.
Companies which currently had no revenue were being told that their tax payments were being postponed.
The government had also said that €900 million would be used on loan guarantees, but the guarantees would only cover 20 per cent. Companies would still have to cover the rest, Delia said.
It was worth recalling, he said, that the government had given a loan guarantee of €350m to Electrogas for its power station. That was one company, compared to €900m for the rest.
It was worrying, he said, that the government was budgeting just an additional €35 million for health. Steward Healthcare was being given more than twice that this year alone, with no return.
Delia said the government’s measures would not prevent layoffs. Giving struggling employers assistance to cover just two days of every five was inadequate. The PN felt the government should cover 50% of the salaries of companies at risk of going under.
In his press conference, Delia criticised the government for not having reduced utility tariffs.
He also criticised the three-month postponement on loan repayments, saying this would not solve anything and it should be extended initially for six months.
The employers’ organisations had rightly hit out at the government’s measures in the strongest of terms, Delia said.
He warned that the country would end up paying a higher bill if the government failed to prevent layoffs and keep the economy going.
The government should directly help the weak and it should help companies through investment, he said.
Shadow minister for social policy Claudio Grech said the government had shown it had given up on protecting jobs. It was also "seriously out of touch" with the needs of businesses. Covering two-fifths of salary bills calculated on a salary of just €800 a month meant the government would fork out the equivalent of unemployment benefit he said. "This is a disgrace," he said.
Shadow minister of finance Mario de Marco said the government measures would not keep businesses going.
Other governments had promised to guarantee jobs. In Malta, "the government is resigned to layoffs".
Replying to questions, Delia said the PN wanted utility bills reduced and felt the government should pay for workers' quarantine leave and pay half the wage bill of struggling companies.
It also felt that the government should allow a far longer moratorium on loan repayments, starting when the economic recovery started. The PN's proposals, he said, would cost between €750m and €800m.