Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Tuesday that the government was committed to fighting inflation and continuing to invest in the people and economic growth.

Speaking in parliament during the Budget debate he also referred to the decision due on Thursday by the Planning Appeals Board on a permit for a massive development at Ħondoq, and said he was backing those who wanted to preserve and protect the bay. 

In his two-hour address, the prime minister said the government's policies were based on the quality of life, education, infrastructure, good governance and the environment.

He repeatedly contrasted current government policies with those of former PN governments and said this government was the only one that delivered certainty, stability and confidence.

This, he said, was a government which had a social soul and was committed to fighting inflation and improving the quality of life, including the environment and the infrastructure.

This was the government that was strengthening the people’s purchasing power and pensions. Examples could be seen everywhere, not least the recent introduction of free bus transport, but also earlier decisions, such as free school transport.

But the biggest decision was to keep energy prices stable.

Malta’s families were the only ones in Europe who were not paying a cent more for energy despite the recent crises. According to Eurostat (the EU statistics agency), energy tariffs for Maltese families were half those of the rest of Europe. Maltese families were saving an average of €2,000 a year compared to those in Europe.

Electricity and gas prices in Malta now were less than in 2012, he said. Fuel prices in Malta were also 15% lower than in 2012.  

It was worth recalling, the prime minister said, that PN policy was to let market prices dictate policy in this regard. Nowhere, not even in its pre-budget document, did the PN say it would keep energy prices stable. So would Bernard Grech not have given the assistance that gave certainty to Malta’s families and businesses?

The PN, he said, was a party of new faces but the same old policies.

Under the PN, Malta would have seen austerity, as during the 2008 financial crisis which caused the economy to slow and unemployment to soar.

But this government would continue to invest in families.

Pensions would continue to rise, he promised, and pensioners and low-income people would also benefit from a wealth of other benefits and the new special cost of living index.

He said he could not understand how the Opposition leader on Monday said 80,000 people eligible for assistance under the special cost of living index would not receive anything, a year after its announcement. But as announced in the Budget speech, payments would be made by the end of the year, he said.

Government 'with a social soul'

The prime minister then went on to explain some of the budget’s social measures as well as the special arrangement made for government workers to get an increase in their increments because inflation had risen beyond what was provided for in collective agreements.    

This, Abela said, was a government that was not introducing new taxes or raising present ones. Indeed, the tax refunds were being improved, even though no one could say that this was an election budget.

“Before the election you told people the tax rebate cheques were only a ploy to buy votes,” Abela told Opposition MP.

“Let me tell you, next year there will be no election, but there will still be tax rebate cheques in the people's letter boxes."

Under the PN, he said, those with a high income would have benefited from tax cuts but those on the minimum wage would have not, similar to what almost happened in the UK recently under the Liz Truss government.  

The prime minister also highlighted increases in the children’s allowance and benefits for children needing school uniforms and those going to extracurricular activities, sports and culture.

At the university, the government was investing twice as much as the PN government used to, he stressed. And student stipends were increasing every year.

This government, he said, was also continuing to help people join the property ladder including, apart from the first-time buyers' scheme, a grant of €10,000 spread over 10 years.

Sustainable spending, fast economic growth

The government, Abela observed, was being criticised over its borrowing, yet it was under the PN government that Malta was placed under an excessive deficit procedure by the EU. In contrast, rating agencies were singing the praises of the present government, a testament to the administration's competence and credibility.

Under the PN, the national debt was 70% of GDP. Under the present government, despite the crises, the debt was 57 per cent. It showed that the government was responsible in its spending even though recurrent spending would increase as the government invested in the people.

Capital spending would also be three times that of 2012, as the government invested in the creation of new prosperity. 

The government's spending was underpinned by one of the steepest rates of economic growth this year. Indeed, growth was now faster than pre-Covid levels.

The opposition had tried to scare the people by using the FATF's greylisting of Malta, yet the country emerged from that greylisting faster than any other country before it and foreign direct investment was at its highest. 

Opposition confusion

The opposition, the prime minister said, was confused and lacked credibility. For example, it had said in its pre-budget document that paternity leave would be increased when, last August, the government announced an increase which was of five more days.  

The pre-budget document even said that a PN government would increase tax revenue by (as against to) €22.6 billion. This was eight times the current revenue. Did the PN know what it was saying?

Bernard Grech had said he would present a vision for the future, and then did not present a single proposal in his speech on Monday. 

It was true, the prime minister said, that the evolution of the economy now needed to be changed to be more focused and targeted, mostly because of a shortage of labour and poaching of workers. 

Malta needed to attract high-level investment without creating new pressures on its competitiveness. But he could guarantee that the future job prospects for Malta's young were very rosy.

Eurostat figures, he said, showed that between 2008-2013 every year, 340 young people (aged under 24) left Malta. Since 2014 that number fell by half. Indeed, the latest figures showed that more Maltese young people were returning to their country than leaving.

Growth of the manufacturing industry

And instead of the exodus of manufacturing firms that the opposition wanted, Malta was seeing growth and diversification. 

Two pharmacy companies were investing in Malta as well as one involved in injectables. New niches were being created in life sciences, including a company involved in the certification of medical devices, paving the way for local production.

One of the biggest companies in the video gaming industry, Keyword Studios, had set up shop in Malta, as well as the biggest company in esports.

When he spoke on Gozo, the prime minister reiterated the government's commitment to build an airstrip, without harming the environment. Reacting to criticism that spending on Gozo's roads would decrease, he said spending would be higher than under the PN.  

Support for the preservation of Ħondoq

Near the end of his address, the prime minister said the government was committed to improving the environment and providing more open spaces.

He said the government had kept its promise to immediately after the election keep a huge expanse of land at Zonqor outside the development zone.

He referred to the forthcoming decision by the planning appeals board on a permit for development at Hondoq ir-Rummien, Gozo and said he wanted to assure all those working for the preservation of the zone that they continued to have his support.

The government, he said, had also taken measures to ensure that fields continued to be used for their agricultural purpose and not other development.

New parks were also being built across Malta and Gozo.

The government would also close the Sant Antnin plant and turned into green urban regeneration. 

On transport and traffic, he said that in a situation where it was easy to acquire a car, a solution for congestion was multi-faceted and included investment in the roads, alternative means of transport, investment in mass transportation and stronger law enforcement.

Studies would also continue for longer-term solutions.

On education, he said the government's commitment was to improve the working conditions of teachers. 

On good governance, he said the courts should put the people at the centre of their activity. People who sought recourse at the courts should not suffer a double injustice through inefficiency, and more resources would be allocated to the courts, including the appointment of more judges. 

Concluding, Abela said the government would continue to turn challenges into opportunities to create new prosperity in the interests of the people. The bigger the obstacles, the stronger the Maltese people would become, he said.