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Source: Kinga Warda & Jeremy Manca¸ PKF Malta¸ November 2013 On 4th November 2013¸ the Minister of Finance – Hon. Prof. Edward Scicluna presented the Budget 2014 to the House of Representatives. Government will be implementing a number of supply-side policies which aim to improve the country’s potential growth and other policies aimed at ensuring sustainability of the country’s public finances. EXCISE DUTY
The excise tax on cigarettes and tobacco¸ fuel¸ alcoholic drinks and beer¸ cement¸ bunkering fuel and car licences is expected to contribute to an increase of €21.4 million in revenue. – Tobacco products (cigarettes will suffer. An additional €5 excise tax per 1¸000 cigarettes); – Excise duty on alcoholic beverages is being increased at rates of between 2.5% and 15%¸ depending on the type ofproduct. – Excise duty on cementis being increased by €10 to €27 per 1000kg. Government will be introducing a new system enabling the recovery of banderol expenses
RAISING OUTPUT POTENTIAL
The Government priority is to raise potential output¸ in particular through “increasing the labour force participation¸ especially of women¸ raising skill and education levels¸ promoting lifelong learning¸ and increasing productive capital investments.” Amongst the other measure¸ the most prominent are as follow: 1. Free Childcare Centres and Breakfast Club – free childcare centres will be set up in order to encourage Maltese women to enter the labour market. Also to ease the womens’ return to the labour market¸ the ‘Breakfast Club’ service will be introduced. It aims to provide a one hour care service before the school opens 2. Piloting computer tablets in schools – in 2014 selected schools will be participating in the pilot project ‘One Tablet per Child’. It is envisaged that via this pilot project¸ students become computer-savvy from a younger age. 3. Encouraging the unemployed to follow full-time courses – persons in receipt of social or unemployment assistance for more than five years who start a full-time course will not lose the said assistance. 4. Youth Guarantee¸ Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme and Apprenticeship Reform – the European Commission is urging Member States to introduce concrete measures to lessen youth unemployment. Malta is working on such a plan. In 2014¸ the Jobs+ Committee will launch this initiative which will address 350 NEETs.
To see detailed analysis of ALL measures announced¸ please check following LINK |