With these measures, one needs to take into consideration the fiscal support through a broad range of Page | 4 Document Classification: Public  government measures aimed at helping households and businesses, which also indirectly sustain the banks by mitigating the effects of the crisis on bank balance sheets. The negative implications from the pandemic will continue to be felt in the near term and this is why the Central Bank encourages all financial institutions to preserve capital, while at the same time continue to lend prudently and avoid unnecessary forbearance measures. I will repeat: the banks are sufficiently liquid, with strong capital ratios and financial resources, and these, coupled with their technological infrastructure and human resources, is enabling them to meet the challenges that the pandemic presents. To conclude, although the pandemic has been around with us for some nine months, the uncertainties surrounding it are still high, although recent news of the rollout of a vaccine in the very near future have surely given hope that we are closer to the end of the pandemic. Nevertheless, its effects will not go away any time soon, and 2021 will be a challenging year, both from an economic perspective and for the banking sector. Therefore, both fiscal and monetary authorities will need to remain vigilant and monitor closely the situation to avoid untimely withdrawal of support measures. Finally allow me a footnote. I would have welcomed this opportunity to say something about Brexit.
We expect this positive momentum in consumption to persist in the final quarter of the year, amid relatively resilient labour market conditions, though the containment measures introduced in October are likely to limit expenditure on certain services and may keep household saving still abnormally higher. Overall, consumption is expected to decline in 2020, but is expected to be the main driver of the recovery in the coming year. Page | 2 Document Classification: Public  The decline in demand and the elevated level of uncertainty have also led to deferrals in private investment plans. Therefore, overall investment is projected to fall significantly in 2020. However, as the level of uncertainty recedes, private investment is expected to bounce back. Furthermore, the EU Budget as well as NGEU funds will provide a substantial boost to government investment during the next year. One of the surprising aspects of this recession has been the extraordinary resilience of the labour market in Malta. Despite the unprecedented decline in economic activity in 2020, overall employment levels have held up very well. Following an increase in unemployment levels in April and May, thereafter unemployment embarked on a gradual downward path. The unemployment rate, though above pre-pandemic levels, remains very low historically and the lowest in the euro area. Nonetheless, the outlook remains surrounded by an elevated degree of uncertainty and risks remain firmly tilted to the downside. These relate mainly to the response of consumers and firms when a number of support measures came to an end.