Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on Sunday dismissed the “doomsday scenarios” being bandied around about the fate of the construction industry. 

Speaking during a political activity in Msida, Dr Muscat said there were three firewalls in place to prevent such scenarios. 

He said the first firewall was the investors themselves, who would always place their money where they could get maximum returns. 

Dr Muscat said the banks served as the second firewall, as they would not lend money to such investors if they thought the project would not be a success. 

He said the final firewall was the government itself. 

The Prime Minister pointed towards the government’s month long suspension of the industry this summer, which came about after a spate of business collapses. 

Dr Muscat reiterated that the main problem in the industry was greed. 

He said respect was of utmost importance, and everyone expected to get a fair deal. 

Challenges of economic growth

The Prime Minister also delved into the challenges being faced in managing economic growth. 

He said the challenges being faced now were different from those of 10 years ago, when the main problem was finding work. 

Dr Muscat said the main challenge now was finding enough people to fill the available jobs, and foreigners coming to the island to chase these jobs. 

He said the government and Labour movement would not build any walls, but instead embrace these new challenges. 

By way of example, the Prime Minister said there were 177 vacancies for pharmacists that would take six years to fill given the current rate of graduations. 

These vacancies were expected to shoot up to 250 once the medical cannabis industry was up and running. 

He said the government would not be turning away foreigners, who paid taxes in Malta. 

“The new challenge as a country is for this growth to be managed in a sustainable way. Suitability is the crucial point. Our job is to solve these problems”, Dr Muscat said. 

Budget 2020

On the forthcoming budget, Dr Muscat said the country had transitioned away from the years when people used to fear the annual budget exercise. 

Now the main complaint from people was that they had not been given enough through the budget, Dr Muscat said. 

He said the government’s ultimate aim was to strengthen the middle class, build a new middle class, eradicate poverty, care for the elderly and give young people the prospect of a bright future. 

Dr Muscat said the goal was to create a country full of what former PN Prime Minister George Borg Olivier used to call “little rich men”. 

He also took several potshots at the “driverless” Opposition. 

The Prime Minister likened the fragmented situation within the Opposition to “the tail wagging the dog”. 

He accused certain people within the PN of trying to sabotage Helena Dalli’s appointed as European Commissioner, despite outwardly supporting her bid.

Throughout his speech, the Prime Minister made no reference to revelations by The Sunday Times of Malta about a businessman being one of the key potential suspects behind journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination.