The following are the top stories in Malta's newspapers on Sunday.
Times of Malta leads with concerns by the Chamber of Commerce that employers are being increasingly faced with requests for undeclared pay. The chamber also complained about an uneven playing field among businesses in tax matters.
In its secondary story, The Sunday Times of Malta interviews Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary who says Ryanair subsidiary MaltaAir is ready to step in if Air Malta falters, but it is not ready to buy the loss-making flag carrier.
MaltaToday says that according to a European Commission proposal, businesses would have to bid for compensation to reduce electricity. It also says the health minister has had a meeting with leaders of Steward Healthcare, who assured him they would work to achieve the milestones laid out in their contract.
The Malta Independent on Sunday quotes the CEO of the Chamber of SMEs saying small businesses have a significant problem of seeing their workers being attracted to government employment. It also quotes the CEO of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority calling for higher fines for abusers.
It-Torċa gives prominence to an 'A' rating given to Malta's economy by ratings agency Scope Ratings. In other stories, the newspaper quotes a Bank of Valletta spokesperson as saying it is too early to comment on the possible impact on Malta of interest rate rises abroad.
Il-Mument says potential buyers of a Zejtun property had been turned away because of irregularities, only for the irregularities to be smoothed over for the property to become the prime minister's villa. The newspaper also quotes a PN statement saying that the savings the government hopes to make through spending cutbacks could be made by stopping corruption and abuse.
Illum says Air Malta workers who leave under the golden handshake scheme will not be allowed a government job for six years.
KullĦadd says that 9000 have been weaned off social benefits under the so-called 'tapering scheme'. It also claims the Opposition leader wants to stop the government from explaining the Budget by writing to the Broadcasting Authority demanding partisan airtime.