Labour spokesman accuses PM of being confused

The Labour Party's spokesman for the economy accused the Prime Minister of being so confused by the recent electoral defeats he failed to realise economic growth statistics included the shipyard retirement scheme.

Gavin Gulia said the scheme was actually a subsidy because it was directly financed by the government and should therefore have been included as such rather than as growth. As a result, the gross domestic product would have fallen by 4.6 per cent and not 3.3 per cent.

"The government... does not know what is going on despite the resources it has at its disposal. Or it is trying to cover up the crisis the country is in," he said. He said the country was in a recession but the government wanted to challenge the truth.

The Finance Ministry said Dr Gulia was exaggerating the effect of the recession. The government was implementing measures in different sectors. It had increased the tourism authority's advertising budget and set up funding schemes for the extension and refurbishment of hotels.

While more factories were setting up in Malta, the government was helping those that were hit by the international crisis, saving about 2,000 jobs.