[WATCH] Recovery plan lacks tourist incentives, aid for unemployed - Delia

The government's €900 million recovery plan fails to offer any incentives to attract tourists to Malta, and does not provide any assistance to the thousands of people who lost their job due to the COVID-19 crisis, Adrian Delia said.

The PN leader, in a reaction on NET TV to the economic recovery package unveiled tonight, acknowledged that some aspects of the plan were positive, and had taken on board proposals made by the Opposition.

He said measures to reduce utility tariffs had only gone "half-way", since they would only be offered to business for a three-month period and would only apply to power bills - when the PN had proposed a reduction of all utility bills for both commercial operations and households.

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The government's grants to partially cover rent costs would also not be enough to sustain those businesses which were charged hefty rents, he said.

He went on to say that the plan lacked any direction in terms of which economic sectors would be regenerated.

"There is no incentive when it comes to the tourist sector as to how Malta will compete with other countries which have already put in place measures to attract visitors," he said.

"Our families - the 11,000 people who are unemployed - were also not targeted at all," he said.

Businesses which do not fall under the government Annex A and B would continue receiving no help, he highlighted.

He added that the government had "insulted" health frontliners by not putting in place any measures to thank them for their essential services during the pandemic.