Prices in Malta are continuing to rise at a faster rate than in many other countries, the Nationalist Party said Monday. The latest statistics released today by the National Statistics Office show that in April, the cost of living increased further compared to March, with some of the sharpest rises recorded in food prices.

The cost of living is suffocating many Maltese and Gozitans, the PN said. The primary responsibility for this crisis lies with the economic model adopted by the Labour Government over the past 12 years - a model which it is now itself admitting has failed.

This situation has been made worse by the reckless and uncontrolled spending of public funds. While workers and businesses are struggling to make ends meet, the Government continues to act generously with other people's money.

The truth is that Robert Abela has no solutions to the cost of living crisis. Labour is proving, day after day, that it is completely out of touch with the real concerns of the people, the PN said.

While families are sinking further into hardship, the Government remains frozen and directionless in the face of ever-increasing prices.

In contrast, the Partit Nazzjonalista has presented concrete proposals, which the Government has discarded, just as it did when it voted against the Opposition's Motion in Parliament calling for action on the cost of living.

The solutions put forward by the PN to tackle this challenge include: removing tax on the first €10,000 earned from part-time and overtime work; making the cost of living adjustment (COLA) tax-free; offering tax credits to employers to avoid further price hikes as they try to absorb cost of living increases; establishing a National Fund to support importers and exporters in absorbing cost pressures that impact inflation; developing a new economic model under a future Nationalist Government: one that fosters new sectors, creates quality employment, and rewards workers fairly.

Only in this way can we truly improve the quality of life of the Maltese and Gozitan people, a quality of life not measured by the GDP growth but by the living standards of each and every individual, the PN said.

'The Labour Government is the only social guarantee for families' - PL

The Labour Government is the only guarantee for the people that it shall continue to create wealth and use it to support families, workers, the elderly, the young and businesses, not least in helping them address matters as is the cost of living, the Labour Party said in a statement.

"This is in stark contrast to a Nationalist Party that has repeatedly spoken out against important initiatives taken by the Labour government to help people on cost-of-living issues," the PL said, reacting to the PN's statement.

"Bernard Grech has spoken against the energy subsidies, the Stabbiltà mechanism, and has also been on record stating that 'it (inflation) rises abroad, therefore it rises in our country too'," the party said.

The PL said that the assistance provided, and is still being provided by the Government, is evident with several other measures including the additional cost-of-living benefit, the largest tax cut in history, increases in the national minimum wage, the signing of dozens of collective agreements for civil servants and sectoral collective agreements, as well as increases in pensions and the Children's Allowance.

"The Maltese and Gozitans are benefiting from all these measures thanks to the Labour Government, which is not only delivering what it promised, but has gone beyond that, and in one budget after the other it has further increased the measures to ensure more money in people's pockets," the PL said.

It continued that with the help of the Labour Government, businesses get double the amount that the Nationalist Party would give were it in government. What the Labour Government is giving, in increases to workers, in a year, it would take a Nationalist government four years to do so.

"People know that it is the Labour Government that has the solutions on cost-of-living issues and that the PN lacks credibility on this matter. After all, it was the PN that when push came to shove, they voted against the most social budget ever, which included the biggest tax cut in history."