The Nationalist Party welcomed the European Commission’s Industry Competitiveness Report for 2014 which analysed developments in the sector and concluded that investment, schemes and incentives in the past years had had a positive effect.

PN spokesmen Mario de Marco, Tonio Fenech and Kristy Debono said in a statement it was the previous government that had introduced such schemes but its concern was that these schemes had been stopped.

The Labour government, which this year had already spent €60 million more on salaries and operative expenses, did not find the necessary money to help business owners invest and create jobs.

Such wrong priorities were leading to the results seen in the past days including a drop in retail sales, a drop in imports, and lower consumer confidence.