Economic growth has laid basis for further progress - Gonzi

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said this morning that the economic growth achieved by Malta over the past few years had laid the foundations for his vision for Malta in 2015 as an EU and Mediterranean centre of excellence in various sectors.

He told a business breakfast that economic growth last year reached over 4 percent. The deficit had slipped below 3 percent of GDP and the national debt over a period of four years had been trimmed from 75 per cent to 63 percent.

The gainfully occupied population reached the new record of 169,000 and investment was approaching the billion euro mark per year. Tourism had grown by 11 percent and financial services expanded by 14 percent last year.

Dr Gonzi said the government had amended business incentives to maintain and improve this growth, and it would continue to work to ensure that potential investors found the climate they needed within which to work productively. The government's aim was to get out of direct participation in business, but to ensure that there was a level playing field for all and that red tape was replaced by the red carpet, Dr Gonzi said.

He said that the fact that achieving a budget surplus by 2010 was not a priority for the MLP was worrying, because financial consolidation had been one of the reasons why the economy was growing.

He underlined the tax cuts he had announced, saying history showed that lower tax meant faster economic growth. At the same time, he said, reducing the surcharge in the manner the MLP was proposing would encourage waste.