Unemployment benefits will continue to be phased out to lure the jobless into seeking work, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said yesterday.
Tapering out unemployment benefits was introduced in the last Budget, with the intention of making work pay and having fewer people depend on social benefits.
Addressing a conference on VAT, organised by the Malta Institute of Management, Prof. Scicluna said the shift from direct to indirect taxation was the secret of job creation in Malta.
Prof. Scicluna reiterated that the main aim of the forthcoming Budget was to reduce the number of those dependent on social services.
He also announced that the merger between the VAT and Inland Revenue departments, which had been in the offing for years, would be carried out by the end of the year.
As this had taken too long, the government was seeking technical advice from the International Monetary Fund.