Wednesday, 8th October 2008 - 14:45CET
Malta's financial situation has gone back four years - MLP
Malta's financial situation has gone back to what it was four years ago, and debt projections are off by €100 million, the opposition spokesman on finance, Charles Mangion, said in a statement this afternoon.
He said that according to official figures, the deficit in the first eight months of this year had reached €260 million, equivalent to the Lm112 million deficit of 2004 when Dr Gonzi took over the reins of the finance ministry.
The national debt in the first eight months of this year had risen by more than €231 million when the government had projected it to be €110 million, a shortfall of €100 million. Debt servicing costs were this year projected to increase by less than €3 million but by August the increase was already in excess of €7 million.
Dr Mangion said the government could not claim that these figures were the result of the international situation when, as the same time, it was boasting that GDP had grown by 3% in the first half of the year and revenue from taxation had gone up by €74 million.
Furthermore, while the government was saying it had increased its subsidy to Enemalta to counter higher oil prices, Minister Austin Gatt had said that the government had saved €55 million from hedging.
Nor could the government blame the increased outlay on children's allowances, since this was already included in the budget estimates.
Clearly, the government had neither control nor a firm hand on national finances, Dr Mangion said.
RSS
Comments
I think that PN had 2 choices when it took over from the MLP about 25 years ago: either chose to stay on surplus, and not do any projects, or else try to improve the country's well-being, but end up with debts.
This is my opinion but i think that one should see the whole picture before commenting.
Muscat/Mangion & Co - the messengers of gloom and doom. You really think the Maltese electorate is going to trust them to run the country when they couldn't come up with an electoral program. One second. Sorry, they did, One that was full of holes and couldn’t withstand the scrutiny of a 10 year old. To boot about it, These two are supposed to be the two with the economic background.
My friend, the economy is doing quite well, record number ever of Maltese working gainfully, unemployment going down month-over-month, foreign investments pouring in every day, etc.
Oh, by the way, did I mention Smart City?
In regards to debt, no problem. The debt that the PN government entered into is with the Maltese themselves. Time and time again, every time that a PN Government issued a bond call it is taken up before it hits the market. Do you know what that translate to - T R U S T. It also means any interest paid out stays here in the hands of the Maltese.
this is why our country now does not afford to mantain the social benefits . Thanks to them now we cannot afford anything . This is the vision they had 20 years ago and the culture change they imprinted in maltese society is that of money no problem but now we say the opposite - MONEY IS THE PROBLEM .
Surely the economy is at a more solid basis, surely one cannot compare Malta's financial situation by qouting the government's debts and loses, because today Malta's economy isn't made only of government companies (or aided), so to see and state what's state is the economy, one got to look at the whole picture - the unemployment rates to investment.
At least Malta's economy hasn't span out of control to a nose dive like those in the eurozone, the UK and the USA.
@Karl Abela
God would be better off with Mr. Par Idejn Sodi and the rest of his puppets after the 360+ promises during the election. Maybe they can start by delivering the light bulbs....REMEMBER THEM ??
On second thought ,GOD would better be with us citizens after the majestic MESS this Government has put us ALL in .
Ahhhh, by the way, does Dr mangion, know there is a GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS??? uupppsss, sorry may someone needs to wake him up.