Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s campaign trail continued yesterday morning with a business breakfast for social partners, in which he stated that the economic package the PN would implement in the next term if elected to government would not have a negative effect oDr Gonzi was speaking during a breakfast meeting at the Westin Dragonara which was attended by various entities, including the General Workers’ Union, the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, the Federation of Industry, the Employers Association and many more.
The PN leader told those present that yesterday was Day 3 of the election campaign and the time had come for deep reflection.
“The European Union has given us the thumbs up for our economic performance. Economic growth is at four per cent compared to the EU average of 2.6 per cent,” he said.
“People have asked why we are offering another economic package in our election manifesto if the country is supposedly doing well. It’s simple, we are looking ahead to the future,” he said.
Dr Gonzi pointed out that the global problems caused by the higher price of fuel oil were not going to vanish, saying that the problem of cereal prices was also here to stay for the foreseeable future. “We must also bear in mind that US indicators are not so good. I hope this does not lead to recession, but we must watch it,” he said.
Dr Gonzi said the new economic package on offer will see maximum tax bands cut from 35 to 25 per cent for those earning up to EUR60,000, upward revisions in the 15-25 per cent income tax brackets and one year income tax amnesty for working mothers per child as well as retention of the current overtime system.
“It is a package of economic stimulus. This package was not created overnight, but is the fruit of two years of study. It is in keeping with our goal to see the Maltese economy generating a surplus by the year 2010,” said Dr Gonzi.
He said that while Malta was aiming for a services-based economy, one still had to realise that there were many other elements that make up the current sprawl, including manufacturing. “I hope we never have a crash like we witnessed in the textiles industry, but we have to learn from such situations. We must strive to be competitive,” said Dr Gonzi.
He also replied to a suggestion from the floor about health and safety. “In Malta you see people spending thousands of euros on the latest piece of machinery only to remove the safety guard to allow the machinery to work faster,” said Dr Gonzi.
The Prime Minister said that this issue should not simply be linked to the construction industry. “The whole country needs a culture change in that regard,” he said.
Dr Gonzi said the government had also tried to engage the public in social dialogue, as for example happened in compiling the pre-budget document and as happened with social partners in the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.
The Prime Minister said that Malta now had the building blocks in place to move forward and achieve the goals of the PN’s vision for 2015. “The euro has given us a base from which we have managed to attract business from HSBC, Lufthansa Teknik, SmartCity, pharmaceutical companies and financial services. This did not happen by accident,” he said.
He continued: “We had the courage to bite the bullet. We could have made ourselves more popular by being more delicate, but that is not the way we do things,” said Dr Gonzi. He also said that the country was improving in getting women to join the world of employment. “The figures for last year show 1,000 more women than the year before joined the gainfully occupied,” he said.
He concluded by saying that the 2006 and 2007 budgets put more money into people’s pockets and this resulted in the highest economic growth rates for years.
n the country’s growth.