Malta Insights

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HOTEL NIGHTS DOWN BY TWO-THIRDS FROM LAST YEAR

Hotels saw a dip of 55.5 percent in guests in the third quarter this year compared with the same period in 2019. Figures by the National Statistics Office show a total 241,179 hotel visitors between July and September, the smallest Q3 numbers in the three years under review.

One in two guests stayed at four-star hotels while another 46 percent chose accommodation at either five or three-star hotels. Another 23,265 guests stayed at alternative collective accommodation including hostels and guesthouses.

Since the beginning of the year, hotels welcomed a total 538,428 guests, a drop of 62 percent in comparison with the first nine months of 2019. Nearly 280,000 choose to stay at four-star hotels while five and three-star hotels welcomed 243,881 visitors between them. Guests at other collective accommodation numbered 47,744. The total number of nights at hotels was 1,003,422 in the third quarter, a decrease of 66.5 percent from the previous year. Hotels registered a total of 2,289,255 nights since the start of 2019, a sharp fall from 7,145,247 in the same period last year.

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PUBLIC SPENDING JUMPS BY €394M IN FIRST HALF OF 2020

The Government total expenditure rose to €2.7 billion in the first half of 2020, an increase of 16.9 percent compared with the same period last year. Figures by the National Statistics Office show a deficit of €895.6 million in the Consolidated Fund between January and June, up from €156.1 million last year.

While expenditure surged, driven by a €228 million in recurrent expenditure, total revenue in the six months decreased from €2.2 billion in 2019 to €1.8 billion this year. Income Tax fell by €128 million, Value Added Tax by €86 million, and Licenses by €54 million. On the other hand, revenue from Fees of Office and Miscellaneous Receipts increased by €15 million and €32 million, respectively.

Government debt rose by €896 compared with the first half of 2019, reaching €6.377 million at the end of June. This debt was mainly financed from Treasury Bills and Malta Government Stocks, which registered increases of €522 million and €380 million, respectively, from the previous year.

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ALMOST 700 KILOGRAMS OF WASTE PER CAPITA IN 2019

Municipal waste generation per capita rose to around 680 kilograms in 2019, up from 650 kilograms a year earlier. Figures by the National Statistics Office show a total increase of 7.3 percent in municipal waste generation from 2018 to 2019, equivalent to 23,825 tonnes.

Kitchen and canteen bio-waste registered the biggest year-on-year rise amounting to 20,165 tonnes, but 2019 was the first full calendar year to during which organic waste collection took place. This, in fact, led to a decrease in mixed waste, down by 21,372 tonnes from 2018.

Waste generation was the highest in the five years under review by the statistics, indicating an increase in most waste types over the years except for metals which rose to their highest in 2016 with 2,000 tonnes before going on a gradual reduction to 1,493 tonnes in 2019.

Glass went the other direction, from 4,447 tonnes generated in 2015 to 8,709 in 2019. A significant increase was also observed in Bulky waste, growing from 32,182 tonnes to 68.084 in the same time period.

MORE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES REPORTED SINCE 2016

The number of persons using domestic violence services increased by 26 percent between 2016 and 2018. Figures by the National Statistics Office show that there were a total 2,285 service users during 2018, 210 more than in 2017 and 469 more than 2016. An increase was also registered in the number of people seeking services for a second or third time, rising from 369 in 2016 to 504 in 2018.

In the three years under review, the largest number of domestic violence were registered with the Police, with just under 4,300 reports received between 2016 and 2018. There has, meanwhile, been an increase in cases registered with other services including shelters, emergency health services, Victim Support Malta, and the Domestic Violence Unit within Aġenzija Appoġġ.

The share of victims referred to Aġenzija Appoġġ grew to twofifths of all cases in 2018, up from a third two years before. Domestic violence reports have increased among both women and men over the three-year period, but violence against women surpasses 80 percent of the total cases in all three years.

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TRADE BALANCE AT ITS NARROWEST THIS YEAR

Balance of trade registered a deficit of €84.2 million in October, narrowing the gap from the same month in 2019 when the trade deficit stood at €311.1 million. Provisional data by the National Statistics Office indicates that this was the smallest margin of difference in international trade since December last year. Imports registered a total value of €339.9, a decrease of €308.6 million from October 2019 driven mainly by a decline in machinery and transport equipment (-€157.6M). Exports also dropped from €337.4 million to €255.7 million year-on-year, with mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials contributing the biggest decrease of €49.2 million.

Over the months from January to October, balance of trade recorded a deficit of €1.97 billion. In the first ten months of 2019, trade in international goods had reached a deficit of €3.50 billion. All categories of industry registered a deficit this year except for miscellaneous manufactured articles with a trade surplus of €107.5 million, an increase from a surplus of €16.8 million in the same period last year.