Finance Minister Tonio Fenech has indeed shown himself to be devastatingly uninformed about the consequences of the world’s financial meltdown. Labour leader Joseph Muscat is correct to call for his resignation (TMID, 2 February).

For Mr Fenech to prove himself crassly unaware of what was happening at STMicroelectronics, Malta’s largest exporter by far, is a sorry state of affairs for the country. Mr Fenech shows a dereliction of duty. ST was the employer Mr Fenech should have kept in mind, day and night. How can we confront the serious situation evolving in the world with ministers so unknowledgeable of what possible developments there could be?

Mr Fenech was even reported by another newspaper last week quoting “some” who were saying there could be a recovery as early as in the third quarter this year. Why did he tell us this? He must have some faith in this expectation, if he was going round expressing it. And if he does, he is more uninformed than we think. For in the third quarter we will be sinking ever deeper into the mire.

Unfortunately, Mr Fenech is not the only minister showing himself to be not at all aware of the seriousness of the situation. Minister Austin Gatt is another. Though he is brazen enough to try to convince us otherwise.

That was why Dr Gatt said that if oil came down to $85 per barrel, the surcharge that was planned would be reduced. He said that because his advice was that this was far from likely to be happening. He thought it was a safe assumption. In fact, rather than being far off, such a fall in the oil price was just round the corner. And the surcharge was not reduced, as he had promised. Just who are Dr Gatt’s advisers? Who are the consultants whom we are paying our taxes for him to have?

J. Bartolo

Valletta