Employers have a good vibe about this evening’s Budget but the positive feeling is tempered by concern that its implementation will be stalled.

Stefano Mallia, of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Enterprise, yesterday said it was important for the country to wake up on January 1 with an approved Budget.

He urged MPs to keep the national interest in mind after Finance Minister Tonio Fen-ech gave the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development the lowdown on the Budget’s salient aspects.

Mr Mallia said it was important to remove uncertainty over the Budget after Nationalist MP Franco Debono said he would vote against it as long as Transport Minister Austin Gatt remained in Cabinet.

Union Ħaddiema Magħ-udin general secretary Josef Vella was also concerned.

This is the Administration’s final Budget and Mr Fenech is expected to initiate a 2008 electoral pledge to cut the top income tax rate from 35 per cent to 25 per cent by spreading the reduction over three years.

Union leaders were generally pleased but General Workers’ Union general secretary Tony Zarb expressed disappointment because the minister had ignored “three-quarters” of his union’s proposals.

Although none of the social partners spoke about specific proposals, they all agreed that it depended on what the minister would actually say in tonight’s speech.

Mr Fenech said he would continue to fine-tune the Budget until the last minute.

After the two-hour meeting he gave a presentation to Cabinet.

Mr Fenech will today meet independent MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, whom the Government relies upon for a parliamentary majority, before presenting the Budget in Parliament this evening.

Those who require any help or information about the Budget can call 188.