‘Malta scratched, but not bruised, by recession’ – Jason Azzopardi

Malta was coming out of the financial recession scratched but not bruised, Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi told Parliament yesterday.

Speaking during the debate on the Bill implementing the budgetary measures, he said it was all due to the government’s clear vision and ways of incentivising investment to procure work.

Earlier he had said that to listen to the opposition one would think that it wanted to distance the people from the circumstances in other parts of the world. The underlying factor in the Budget was profitable work that enhanced standards of living.

In reality, the Maltese were much better off than neighbouring peoples whose economies were in the doldrums. The Maltese banking system, for example, had been judged by the World Economic Forum as the 10th best in the world.

Dr Azzopardi said the opposition had engaged in intellectual dishonesty with its speeches in Parliament. This year would be the turning point the Maltese economy so badly needed, even in the reforms being planned.

Some of the 150 measures announced in the Budget had already started being implemented, and the people were already looking forward to next November for the new Budget. These measures in-cluded tax credits to the benefit of some 30,000 SMEs and the removal of levies on credit cards.

Other countries had raised income tax, as in Spain, or slashed social benefits across the board, as in the Netherlands. Latvia had a very high unemployment rate, whereas Malta’s was relatively low.

Thanks to the financial reforms over the past three years, the people had been left with €152 million more in their pockets.

Dr Azzopardi said that by February 8 the Lands Department and Malta Enterprise would be clearing land at Safi for the Star Technik project, which had been attracted to Malta with the right incentives.

The Island Hotels Group was embarking on a multi-million-euro project translating into hundreds of new jobs.

Together with Air Malta the Lands Department had recently issued a call for tenders for the Selmun Palace Hotel. All tenders received had been turned down because it was known that a number of other companies had much more serious interest in Selmun.

Companies represented in Hong Kong were also very interested in Malta, and the conclusion of a double taxation agreement would do a lot to entice them to invest in Malta with an eye on the African markets.

Dr Azzopardi said it was this hard-working government that shaped the country’s destiny. Its wise policy had been recognised by the EU Commission when it gave a vote of confidence with the extension of a full year to bring the national deficit within three per cent. This gave the lie to the opposition’s exclamations about the government’s supposedly-poor showing in international situations beyond its control.

The speaker called this opposition tactic politika tal-lira (cheap politics).

Together with the Ministry of Rural Affairs, the Lands Department was close to keeping another electoral promise, most of which had already been kept in just two years. This landmark would see farmers’ agricultural leases of government-owned land being converted to emphyteusis.

Concluding, Dr Azzopardi said that statistics in the Budget were not just numbers but meant people and challenges. The government was well on course to lead the country out of the financial crisis to a much better position than it had been in a few months ago.

Continuing where he left off on Monday, Ninu Zammit (PN) said that if Malta was to reach its targets with regard to the use of renewable energy and the reduction of CO2 emissions, the photovoltaic cell market should expand. Competition would lead to lower prices and greater utilisation.

In total, a consumer who would install a one-kWh photovoltaic panel would be saving €280 annually. A consumer who consumed between 10,000kW and 20,000kW would be saving around €526 yearly. Those who consumed more than 20,000kW would be saving around €770. Through net metering, a person would be able to sell surplus energy to Enemalta.

However, people were not given enough incentives to create such energy, as such surplus was only being bought €0.06 per unit. Spain and Portugal, which had adopted this policy a long time ago, paid a flat rate of €0.30 per unit. He said this system made more sense as it gave an incentive to people to adopt photovoltaic panels that would create renewable energy.

Mr Zammit said certain aspects, such as keeping TVs and computers on stand-by mode, should also be considered. This was wasted energy.

Turning to the harvesting of run-off water, Mr Zammit said this could be used for agricultural purposes. This project cost €70 million and was co-financed through EU funds. Tunnels would serve both as transporters and as reservoirs, so that this water would be able to reach rural areas.

By using this run-off water, one would be protecting the aquifer. This project would help the agricultural sector and prevent problems caused by floods. The aquifer should be given the chance to regenerate itself so that it would be able to store more good-quality water.

Concluding, Mr Zammit said that this was a holistic project, as it would result in reducing the use of reverse osmosis and, in turn, reduce CO2 emissions. This project also meant reducing water wastage.