The Nationalist Party called on the Labour government to take responsibility for the rise in prices and act “immediately” to address inflation.

Speaking in a press conference on Tuesday, PN MP Charles Azzopardi began by pointing out everything that has gone up in price. He expressed how everything from property to cereal, has gone up in price.

He stated how everyday people are no longer able to go to buy groceries like they used to be able to a few months ago. Now people are merely trying to survive till the end of the month, he said.

Following this, he brought up how the EU and the Central Bank of Malta have both stated that by “2024, inflation will be worse than expected”. He also commented on how last March, the National Statistics Office published figures showing that the inflation in food has been 8.7% and the inflation rate overall has been 4.5%. “This is a reality,” Azzopardi said.

This led Azzopardi to argue that the government must take responsibility for this issue, and must act immediately to help Malta. He further stated how they cannot blame the war in Ukraine or Covid-19 any longer.

Furthermore, he stressed how it is unacceptable that a person who works with a private company is getting paid less than a person working with the government.

He claimed that if “the government needs money, they will find it.”

He further expressed how it is unacceptable that the government “steals from our water and electricity bills,” but does not help the people.

PN MP Rebekah Cilia spoke a lot against the Labour MP Julia Farrugia Portelli and her claims that the government cannot do anything because inflation is a consequence of the free market.

Moreover, Cilia also brought up how the vouchers are not enough to aid the Maltese to afford the rise in prices.

Similar to her colleague, Cilia stressed that something needs to be done “as soon as possible” to combat inflation because everybody is suffering on a daily basis.

Throughout the press conference, both Azzopardi and Cilia gave many different examples in order to show how this is a problem that is not only affecting the poor but everyone.

 

Labour Party calls PN’s appeal not ‘credible’

The Labour Party replied to the Nationalist party’s appeal to urgently address the inflation crisis by stating that they are not “credible”.

In response to the Nationalist Party, the Labour Party singled them out by stating, that when they were in government, they were the ones who burdened the country more than any other country in the EU.

“Today the government does not only recognise the challenge of inflation, but it is continually working on the issue,” the Labour Party claimed.

The PL continued to state that they have managed to keep the price of electricity stable by investing hundreds of millions of euros to achieve this goal.

Moreover, they highlighted how they have been able to lower the tax, increase the pension, introduce children’s allowance, and the implementation of the in-work benefit.

They finalised their response by saying that the Labour government will continue to offer support to people and it will continue to invest in people.