PN Deputy Leader Mario de Marco warned this evening that the country cannot become dependent on one off economic events, such as the sale of passports and Enemalta shares.
Speaking in the debate on the financial estimates of the Finance Ministry, Dr de Marco noted that government expenditure had gone up from 4% in 2012 to around 8% and questioned whether this increase was sustainable.
"These one-offs will not always be there and if our economy, even just one sector, slows down, the gap between expenditure and income will become more pronounced."
Dr de Marco said that after listening to the PM's speech last week one would have thought that the country's economy before Labour was in a disastrous state. Back then the world was facing the worst recession in decades. The price of oil was five times higher than today. Notwithstanding these facts investment was brought in, the economy grew and jobs were created. The EC had praised our country for the way it had battled and triumphed over the recession. "I would have expected the PM to at least acknowledge the good work done before he became PM. Instead of thanking these people Dr Muscat made an attempt to rewrite history."
Going into more detail on the economic scenario, the PN Deputy Leader and shadow finance minister said the government had overshot its financial estimates for the past four years with a total of €350 million. He also criticized the PL administration for reducing investment in infrastructure.
Turning to Air Malta, Dr de Marco urged the government to keep the Opposition and all stakeholders in the loop at all times and said that if a deal with Alitalia fails the national airline will manage to strike a deal with someone else.
Next he spoke on the upcoming development projects in the Paceville area. Pointing out that this area had the largest concentration of five star hotels he called for a coordinated plan, especially during the construction phase.
Dr de Marco sounded the alarm on export figures, which are still below 2012 levels.
He also pointed out that many value added jobs were being taken up by foreign nationals. This was most evident in the iGaming and financial services sector.
In a newspaper interview the finance minister had hinted that he disagreed that the minimum wage should be raised. He should state whether this was the case, which would mean that he was saying the opposite of what the Prime Minister was saying.
Dr de Marco said the traffic problem had been a long time coming and was partly the result of mentality. He said the measures mentioned in the budget were nowhere near a solution.
On energy tariffs he said that since the government had managed to reduce energy prices irrespective of a new power station, it should reduce them even further when the power station becomes operational.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2e2y8LC
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