Bernard Grech on Monday slammed the government’s budget for loading up on debts and failing to come up with a long-term economic plan.

In a press conference minutes after the 2023 budget was announced, the Opposition leader said the government was relying on debt to finance its initiatives.

“No wonder the [finance minister’s] briefcase is red. The whole country is in the red. The budget is going to add another €1 billion in debt,” Grech said.

He said the budget failed to address the real issues impacting people, instead continuing with an economic plan that has already failed.

“The budget has lots of nice words, but no solutions. It does not address people’s quality of life,” Grech said.

He added that after Caruana in the past week admitted his policy of population growth to fuel the economy  “has failed”, people expected him to offer the government’s new alternative vision. “We do not know where the government wants to take us in the future. No wonder 70% of youths want to leave Malta,” Grech said.

The Opposition leader insisted that the cost-of-living increase was not enough to address the explosion in prices. Pensioners could see that their pension increase, above the Cost of Living Adjustment, would actually be lower than last year's when inflation was lower.

Furthermore, instead of controlling government spending, Caruana had placed the burden on businesses.

The Opposition leader said thousands were being spent on a government press conference this evening, just so the Prime Minister could repeat what had already been said in the budget.

He said the budget failed to address concerns about the rise in criminality. Instead, law enforcement bodies had their budgets cut.

The tourism budget had been slashed by €5 million, yet the government had found enough money to place dinosaur models around Valletta.