Importers buying time with new car prices - Fenech

Car importers are not divulging the prices of their vehicles under the new registration tax because they wanted to first find out what the competition's rates would be, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said yesterday.

"Let me tell you a secret, no one (car importers) wants to reveal their prices because they want to wait and see what their competitors' prices are," Mr Fenech said at a party activity in Mġarr yesterday.

The statement is the first public pronouncement on the attitude of car importers to publicly declaring their prices after the new tax regime was announced in the budget speech.

Since the new measures were announced, in fact, several car importers have been coming up with various excuses for not releasing the new prices. Some have but others are still reluctant or will only give rough estimates.

When The Times had asked for the new prices a few days after the taxes were announced, most car importers said they were still wading through equations and tables to compute them.

Yet, three weeks after that, several dealerships still refused outright to give the prices over the phone when contacted. Even though a good number of dealers did have post-January figures some salesmen still said their prices were rough estimates.

When dealing with the subject, Mr Fenech yesterday was making the point that the changes to the new registration and circulation tax were aimed at encouraging people to buy smaller and more environmentally friendly cars.

Mr Fenech then turned to a recent report in which the European Commission proposed that each country injects 1.2 per cent of its GDP to boost the economy to address the global financial crisis.

This would mean that Malta would have to fork out €65 million. But, he said, Malta had already surpassed this figure and committed €320 million aimed at boosting the economy.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said he had requested a meeting with Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat to discuss pending issues such as the nomination of a Data Protection Commissioner and important projects for the country on which national consensus was desired.

Dr Gonzi also said he would like to have the backing of the Opposition on strengthening the economy.

At a seminar last week Opposition leader Joseph Muscat called for a bipartisan approach to economic direction, suggesting that civil society could be provided with a platform for dialogue in which the Opposition could participate.

In a reference to the City Gate project which is back on the cards, Dr Gonzi said the government would soon be unveiling capital projects including one for Valletta.

He said that over the past years, all projects had brought about some form of controversy, adding that while he respected constructive criticism, he hoped that the government and the Opposition would agree on matters of public interest.