Provisional estimates show that when comparing August 2008 to the corresponding month last year, the industrial producer price index of the sampled enterprises increased by 11.7 per cent, primarily due to higher ...

Malta’s structural deficit is expected to increase by two per cent, to 3.8 per cent in 2008, according to the Autumn Economic Forecast issued by the...

Labour leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday evening, following the presentation of the Budget, that the government had only itself to blame for failing to reach the financial targets it had set....

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday described Budget 2009 as a responsible one – a budget that was one of the most carefully thought out and drawn up to buffer the coming international problems. ...

The Nationalist Party said in a statement that Budget 2009 includes a number of measures in favour of the environment, job creation and solidarity....

“The budget confirms my projection that the government was constrained due to the deficit and huge imbalance it had created during the year...

Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association President Kevin Decesare expressed his satisfaction that the government was regarding assistance to the tourism industry as “investment” ...

The initial reaction of Joseph Farrugia, Director General of the Malta Employers’Association was that the budget was “very vast and quite bland.” ...

“We expected a bolder budget but this is a very cautious budget: A reflection of the local situation in which the government finances were not as sound as they were being described,” GRTU director general, Mr Vince Farrugia said. ...

Philip Fenech, tourism spokesman at the GRTU, reacted to the increase in both the price of Alco pops (flavoured alcoholic beverages) and the minimum drinking age as a clear message that the government intends to curtail heavy drinking by young people....