EU statistics show drop in purchasing power of the Maltese - PL spokesman

Consumption in Malta dropped by 3.6 per cent last year, according to official EU statistics, the Labour Party’s spokesman for the economy said.

Charles Mangion said in a statement that the statistics showed that while the average rate of sales in the EU increased by 0.7 per cent, in Malta this dropped by 3.6 per cent.

While Spain was going through a financial crisis, Romania was among those with the lowest economic development.

Dr Mangion said this confirmed that families’ purchasing power had dropped and when one considered that even families’ inclination to save had dropped considerably, the government could not put the blame on this factor.

Such economic reality confirmed that the registered economic growth was not being reflected in a better standard of living for families.

The government’s lack of enthusiasm to protect consumers also meant that the prices of essential products such as food and medicines increased more than the EU average.