PN criticises government over lack of population projections
Opposition questions how ministers can prepare for major infrastructure without population forecasts
Updated 4.13pm
The Nationalist Party has criticised the government over the absence of official population projections, questioning how it can prepare major infrastructure projects, such as a mass transport system, without knowing how Malta's population is expected to grow.
In a statement on Thursday, the PN cited a parliamentary question by MP Michael Piccinino asking for the government's population projections for the next four years.
Replying on Wednesday, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said: “The National Statistics Office does not publish national population projections for Malta”.
The PN asked how the government can make long-term plans, such as for a mass transport system, if it does not know what Malta’s population will be in the near future.
“This is a government that had no plan for our country before the election and still has no plan today,” the party said.
In an interview with Times of Malta published on Sunday, Prime Minister Robert Abela brushed off the suggestion that Malta’s population could reach 800,000 by 2040 as first stated by Caruana. In 2023, the finance minister had warned that Malta’s population would balloon unless drastic changes to Malta’s economic model were made.
A Times of Malta Fact Check indicates that at the current growth rate of 14,000 people each year, Malta’s population will indeed hit almost 800,000.
On Thursday, the PN pointed to “contradictions” between Prime Minister Robert Abela and his finance minister.
Earlier this week, Caruana again stood by his projections, saying his “comments over time have been clear” on the matter.
In response to the PN’s statement, the Labour Party said the Opposition’s own population plans “would lead to the exact opposite of what it is trying to preach”.
“PN proposed reducing bureaucracy to facilitate the recruitment of more foreign workers, introducing new schemes to attract more workers to Malta, and pursuing large-scale projects which, by everyone’s admission, would require additional foreign labour to be sustained,” the PL said.
The PL added that PN Leader Alex Borg had also stated he would regularise foreign workers who are in Malta without a work permit, noting that "the PN’s rhetoric says one thing, but its policies would lead to another."