From Mr M. Falzon A&CE

Anthony Valvo repeats the persistent MLP myth that the current national debt is the result of the post-1987 PN administrations turning “a surplus of half a billion Maltese liri in 1987 to a deficit of approximately Lm1.5 billion…”(Shock waves – After effects – TMIS, 6 February).

The claim that in May 1987 the Maltese government’s coffers had a surplus of half a billion liri bears absolutely no relation to the truth. In May 1987, there already was a deficit in the consolidated fund and a national debt, albeit not as big as the current ones.

Apart from that, the incoming PN administration found that the outgoing MLP government had employed some 8,000 people in the public sector in the few months before the 1987 election. Some of these – as in the case of Kalaxlokk – were employed in the election weekend and their first day of work was the Monday following the election.

The brunt of this irresponsible employment policy (which cost the public exchequer at least an extra Lm2.4 million annually in the beginning and much more later, as wages went up) was shouldered by the subsequent PN administrations – but MLP apologists fail to mention this fact.

The half a billion Maltese liri figure in May 1987 refers to the then frequently trumpeted external reserves, a figure that has since more than doubled and is now well over a billion liri.

Of course, it is also no longer fashionable for the MLP to brag about Malta’s enormous foreign reserves…

Mr Valvo’s blindly repeating the half a billion surplus myth is but a sad reflection of the poor amateurish level of the political debate in Malta.

Michael Falzon

NAXXAR