PN leader Simon Busuttil today said that we cannot afford to see our economy – which is built on strong pillars – collapse, lamenting the fact that public sector employment has witnessed an “exaggerated 5,000-person increase during the last two years”.

Speaking during a conference of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development at the Dolmen Hotel themed ‘Boosting Competitiveness and Social Inclusion’, Dr Busuttil said that this number – which could affect Malta’s competitiveness - is “artificially” decreasing the rate of unemployment, describing the sector as “bloated”.

“At times I feel the government is adopting an approach whereby certain individuals advance in their career due to their political colour while others who have certain expertise and qualifications feel discouraged to apply for certain posts due to this,” Dr Busuttil said.

But Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech, who said that his intention was not to turn today’s conference into a parliamentary debate, could not hold back and was quick to point out that contrary to what was stated by the Opposition leader, 10,000 new jobs were created during the last two years, the majority of which were in the private sector.

“I cannot understand why Dr Busuttil stated that the public sector is bloated,” Dr Grech lamented.

On the quality of life of persons, he made special reference to the decrease in the energy tariffs. He said that this government is tackling poverty more than anyone else did over the years.

“We are committed to reducing poverty by 6,200 by 2020,” he said.

Government to announce 15 million euro SME initiative

The government, he said, is committed to improving access of capital to SME’s, creating a more business friendly environment and promote innovation. 

He said that the government will soon be announcing a 15 million euro first loss portfolio whereby in the event an SME pulls out a loan and the bank suffers a loss, the loss is covered by the government.

“Boosting competitiveness and social inclusion is part of the government’s agenda and this government’s two successive budgets helped create a good economic climate,” he said.

Earlier, Dr Busuttil said competitiveness and social inclusion are linked and it is useless having a good economy but excluding certain strata of society.

Outlining a number of measures which helped shape and keep Malta’s economy strong, Dr Busuttil said that economic diversification has changed the face of this little rock we live in,  our robust banking sector helped combat the challenges that the world faced during the economic crisis, and a PN government’s ‘surgical’ approach to assist companies which were on the brink of collapse also contributed.

“The important aspect is that we know where we are going in terms of our economy,” he said, calling for a common vision so that Malta becomes a centre of excellence in certain sectors which “we can excel in”.

He said that the ICT, aeronautic, health, education, energy, maritime, remote gaming, pharmaceutical and tourism sectors are strong but emphasised that Malta needs to improve on other economic sectors.

Turning to salaries, he said that pay packets decreased not increased during the last two years. He said that the average wage increase was €187 annually, opposed to the past which was €500.

He said that in Malta we do have low taxes but then we must continue to give free quality healthcare and education.