Labour leader Alfred Sant yesterday went round the Birkirkara open air market where, he said, he could see a slower rhythm of trade because family purchasing power had been weakened because of higher prices.

In comments afterwards he said there was no doubt that there had been an explosion in prices of products which were important for families. These included food, medicines and clothes.

Two factors had contributed to this increase: high prices from overseas, and other increases from Malta which were not being kept under control because “we don’t have enough systems to protect the consumer,” said Dr Sant. “Strong and immediate measures are needed to protect the consumer against the cost of living,” he said.

“It is not acceptable that the increase of prices of many products such as food, clothes and medicines here in Malta, are at least three to five times more than the average in the European Union,” he added.

Dr Sant also referred to the goods containers used by Maltese distributors, which were being held in Sicily. “The government is not paying enough attention to the fact that these Maltese businesses need to be protected. One would have expected the government to take steps to see exactly what is happening to these businesses, and help them,” he said.