The Nationalist Party has called for a serious discussion on the economy.

Finance spokesman Mario de Marco pointed out that the Maltese economy stayed strong even during the international crisis.

The Opposition was ready and willing to work with the government for the economy to continue to grow, especially now that the international situation was far better. There were signs in some sectors were were worrying and the Opposition had a duty to point them out. 

It was a fact that between October 1, 2013 and October 1, 2014, the debt rose by €220 million. The number of public sector workers in the year to August 2014 was up by more than 2,000. There was also a sharp rise in government spending, particularly in salaries, operational expenditure and spending by public entities.

Between 2013 and 2015 the government would have raised spending on salaries by more than €57 million, or 9%. 

It was important that government spending was productive and sustainable.

Dr de Marco also pointed out that exports, industrial production and retail trade were down but the government was not admitting its problems, let alone coming up with a strategy to tackle them, hiding instead behind a dubious interpretation of statistics.