The fact that the board for monitoring medicine prices has not met for over a year continues to confirm that the Nationalist government is oblivious to the effect that the increase in the cost of living is having on consumers, a statement issued by Labour Party spokesperson for Consumer Protection, Silvio Parnis said.

The Nationalist party’s electoral promise said that medicine prices should have continued to be monitored and prices should have been lowered if needs be.

Four months after the election it became known that the same board appointed by the government two years ago has not met for over a year.

Nationalist Statistics Office (NSO) figures as well as those issued by Eurostat continuously show drastic price increases. In June 2008, products and services related to health were 1.7 per cent more expensive than they were a year ago. Statistics therefore confirm that complaints of families and elderly people regarding ever increasing medicine prices are truly valid.

Thus, the government should act on such a situation and make sure that the monitoring board for medicine prices continues to meet on a regular basis, at least once a month.

The Labour Party in Opposition has always recognised the impact that international crisis have on our country’s economy, he said. None the less, this does not mean the government and authorities should remain sitting back in front of the drastic increase in the cost of living, increases that resulted to be much higher than those experienced in other EU countries.

The Maltese consumer deserves serious protection and the Labour Party is ready to help for this to be assured, he said.