The government's aim is to consolidate the country's financial position and control the deficit, curbing on the national debt, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said this morning.

Asked whether the government should start considering tough decision's following Moody's downgrading of foreign and local currency government bonds, Dr Gonzi said that the government had been taking difficult decisions for quite sometime, decisions which the opposition had tried to take advantage of.

These decisions, he said, were the reason why Malta was among the best performing EU countries in a number of sectors.

The Prime Minister said that Moody's result emphasised the point that Malta was not cut off from the surrounding realities and even if it was registering good results, it could still be affected by the trouble in the countries surrounding it.

The European economy was itself facing problems, including Malta's neighbour states Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain.

The situation in Libya, together with that in Tunisia and Egypt, created an instability so one immediately understood Moody's point that the this situation could create major problems for Malta.

Because of this, Dr Gonzi said, the government had to be realistic and take its decisions with care. It had to consolidate the country's financial position and work on controlling the deficit. In this way, it would also control the national debt.

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