Opposition isolated from global reality - Finance Ministry

The opposition was completely isolated from the global economic and financial realities, the government said.

The Finance Ministry referred to a statement issued earlier by the PL's spokesman for finance Charles Mangion in which he said that the country's financial situation was deteriorating.

The ministry said that during an international economic crisis, Malta, like all the other EU countries was experiencing a drop in income from taxes as economic activity had slowed down. The government, the ministry said, had intervened to assist sectors in need, which had the biggest impact on employment.

Unemployment, the ministry said, would have been much bigger had the government only sought to reach its financial aims, drawn up under different circumstances.

It said that according to Eurostat, while unemployment in Malta stood at 7.3 percent, this was 9.4 percent in the euro zone.

See also:

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090807/local/country-in-dire-financial-straits-pl