Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said that Malta attracted Lm200 million worth of foreign investment in 2005 and as a result employment opportunities increased and unemployment dropped.

Speaking during a meeting for party supporters in Naxxar, in the run-up to the local council election there, the Nationalist Party leader said foreign investment when Opposition Leader Alfred Sant was in office amounted to just Lm19 million.

Dr Gonzi said Dr Sant continuously depicts the situation in Malta as negative when facts show that the situation is otherwise. He referred to the recent announcement of HSBC Bank Malta’s Lm37 million profit, which is an increase of 12 per cent over the previous year. He said that the Bank has paid Lm13 million in taxes.

He said that contrary to what the MLP states about the economy – that the economy is at a standstill – these results show exactly the opposite.

Dr Gonzi said that despite several difficulties that the country had to face last year, the country is now on the right track. He said that the biggest shock last year was when 800 employees at Denim lost their jobs. But in less than four weeks, more than half these workers found alternative employment.

The PN leader also referred to reforms in the Malta Drydocks, the Public Broadcasting Services, Sea Malta and other companies, which had been using up a lot of the country’s funds.

Dr Gonzi said that the challenges the country needs to face is now the port reform and a reform in the pension system. As in the past, the government will continue to take important decisions in the country’s best interest and that of its workers and families, and these will result in people voting for the PN again in the coming general election.