The government has signed agreements with Bank of China and China International Travel Services through which 10,000 Chinese visitors will come to Malta by 2018 and 50,000 by 2020, the prime minister announced in parliament this evening.
Dr Muscat was replying to the criticism of the budget made yesterday by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil.
He also revealed that Maltese patrol boats taking part in a Frontex mission last night rescued 575 migrants, who are being taken to Italy.
Early in his speech he said the government considers itself as being half-way to achieving its target of prosperity for all.
Dr Muscat said there was consensus that the economy was doing well. The majority agreed that their living standards were higher than three years ago. He was sure that most Maltese were confident that things would get even better in the coming years.
Unemployment was at a record low, and the target now was to achieve better quality jobs. In three years, or half a legislature, as many jobs had been created as the previous three legislatures combined.
There was confidence in the country, among families and businesses.
The direction of the country had been changed thanks to tax cuts, lower electricity tariffs, free childcare, and by less important decisions which the people also felt, such as by giving children's allowance before school started, or lower school uniform prices.
But the government was not resting on its laurels because it recognised the problems of particular sectors of society.
Reacting to comments by Dr Busuttil about growing recurrent expenditure, Dr Muscat said the budget measures which the government had introduced were sustainable and would be its legacy.
The budget deficit next year would be some 0.5 per cent, from four per cent at the time of the election. The national debt was down to 60 per cent (of GDP) from close to 70 per cent in 2013. In the three months that Dr Busuttil was PN deputy leader before the general election, the debt rose by €300 million.
Dr Busuttil found a cloud in every silver lining
Dr Muscat said the opposition leader had been negative and 'found a cloud in every silver lining' in his speech yesterday.
He had attempted to push the clock back to the time when there was uncertainty.
Dr Muscat said this had been a social budget aimed to help those who had not benefited from economic growth. This was one of the best ever exercises of wealth distribution this country had ever seen. And yet, nothing had been taken from anybody.
Those on a minimum wage through the various measures and the cost of living wage adjustment would see an increase of at least €4 a week, rising to €15 in some cases. This was far from a 'cosmetic' measure, as the Opposition had labelled the budget.
Dr Muscat reiterated his view that the minimum wage needed to be reviewed and talks about it should be held among all the social partners with the aim of achieving consensus.
The prime minister listed the increases in pensions announced in the budget and the way how all pensions up to €13,000 - the highest government pension - would henceforth not be taxed.
He also highlighted improvements in social benefits, notably the ongoing reforms to benefit people with disabilities and their carers, about whom the Opposition said nothing.
The government, he said, was also taking action to help low income tenants keep up with high rents, while insisting that rental contracts must be registered.
"The government will not close an eye to the black economy. We will help people, but we cannot allow abuse," Dr Muscat said.
Landlords, however, would see tax savings when they entered into seven-year contracts with low income tenants.
The government will not close an eye to the black economy. We will help people, but we cannot allow abuse.
In contrast to the former government, Dr Muscat said, the present administration had not sought to discredit the Caritas report on poverty but committed to working with the organisation.
The people, he said, could feel the change from the former government to the present. The former government raised social security contributions and the retirement age. The present government increased pensions and would not raise the retirement age.
And this government, Dr Muscat insisted, would not introduce second pillar pensions, as Dr Busuttil wanted and the PN had intended to do at the rate of four per cent. Had the PN proposals been realised, an average income worker would have seen a cost of €700 per year , and a minimum wage worker would have lost €350.
No out-of-stock medicines
Turning to the health sector, Dr Muscat said the problem of out-of-stock medicines had been resolved and all medicines were now in stock. Furthermore, remarks by Dr Busuttil criticising generic medicines were seriously mistaken. The sustainability of the health system depended on generics, and hundreds of people in Malta were employed by factories producing generics. Their products were not inferior and the government would continue to buy the best medicines for Malta's patients.
Dr Muscat said that 'by the end of the legislature' the government would publish all its major contracts. That some price sensitive information was blanked out of contracts did not amount to corruption, as Dr Busuttil had implied. To argue in that way would mean there was corruption in all the privatisation contracts published by the former government, which had blanked pages. The former government had even committed to never publish its contract with Maltco.
Only 18 people aged under 23 depend on social benefits
Dr Muscat highlighted the government's efforts to encourage young people to further their studies or to go into training for jobs. He said it was significant that just 18 people aged under 23 were now dependent on social benefits.
Dr Muscat denied claims about rising public service employment, saying the percentage of employment in the public service was now 25 per cent of the gainfully occupied, compared to 27% under the PN.
And it was not true wages were falling in real terms. Various reports, including one by the EU, showed wages in Malta rising, faster than in many countries.
The middle class
It was also not true that the middle class had been ignored in this budget, Dr Muscat continued. Those in the middle class were among those who would benefit from the waiving of tax on pensions and dividends, the tax reduction on transfer of family business, the purchase of the first property, and those buying a property in Gozo, among others.
It was not true that the economy was not forging into new sectors. Among the new sectors were education including the university which the PN had opposition, new private health facilities which the PN also opposed, and the new logistics centre.
Furthermore, he could announce that thanks to the work by Sai Mizzi, memoranda of understanding had been signed with Bank of China and China International Travel Services through which 10,000 Chinese visitors would come to Malta by 2018, and 50,000 by 2020.
New power station 'is needed'
Dr Muscat denied Opposition claims that the new power station was not needed. Various reports, such as one by the London School of Economics, showed that the Malta-Sicily interconnector did not necessarily mean lower tariffs, and Malta needed to have stand by generation capacity in order to be able to operate autonomously.
Dr Busuttil had also claimed, Dr Muscat said, that power tariffs had been reduced thanks to the interconnector and the BWSC. And yet the PN, despite having the interconnector and the BWSC plant, had not promised any cuts.
The only alternative to not having a new power station was to keep the Marsa power station open, which would have been bad for the people's health, their pockets, and the environment.
The former government had had the opportunity of linking to a gas pipeline, but somebody in the Cabinet preferred to stick to heavy fuel oil, and commissions.
Dr Muscat said the guarantee given by the government to Electrogas would expire in a few years' time, and the facility had yielded €270m in electricity tariffs savings to the people.
Corruption: Government needs to up its game, not simply point to past scandals
In the last part of his speech Dr Muscat said people were worried about several things such as corruption, traffic and the number of foreigners in Malta.
On corruption, he said that things could be done better. But one needed to remember what the government inherited and how in the past no one was ever held to account in 25 years. The biggest ever corruption scandal was in oil procurement, where practically everyone emerged scot free.
Malta had not had a functioning structure to fight corruption. There was no transparency on party funding.
People expect better of us, but do not expect better of you- PM to Opposition leader
Malta now had the Whistleblowers' Act, a party funding law and more scrutiny of government appointments. The PN however, circumvented the party funding law.
Still, the government needed to up its game and not simply point at past scandals.
Still, the leader of the opposition lacked credibility. "People expect better of us, but do not expect better of you," Dr Muscat said.
Traffic
Dr Muscat said the number of new cars every year, tail to tail, would stretch the length of Malta twice over. Malta had an infrastructural deficit and the government was taking short and long term measures such as the Dock 7 road and proposals for an underground service. Free transport for students was being considered, but did the PN agree on fining parents who persisted in driving their children to school?
And in proposing a tram, how did Dr Busuttil see trams over Malta's narrow roads, when people even complained about cable TV boxes on their facades?
ODZ
Dr Muscat said the government had no plans to develop any land outside development zones. But certain issues needed to stop, such as the way how a private investor applied to build an old people's home on government land and the Lands Department did not initially react.
Since then consent has been withdrawn.
Migration
Speaking on migration, Dr Muscat thanked the AFM for its service, saying that Maltese patrol boats yesterday rescued 570 people at sea in a Frontex operation. They are being taken to Italy.
Dr Muscat said complaints about migration did not always amount to racism or xenophobia, but he would like to see Malta develop in a more cosmopolitan way to benefit the country.
Concluding, he said the general election was 18 months ago, and the government would continue to work for prosperity to all.
This was only the beginning and the people's choice at the polls would be: who do you trust in health, energy, education, jobs, the economy, the low income workers, the new middle class and the distribution of wealth for all?