The European Commission's economic winter forecast for Malta echoed the position adopted by the Nationalist Party over the past months, deputy leader Mario de Marco said this morning.

The report, he said, pointed out that economic growth was emanating from iGaming and financial services and made no reference to sectors created during this administration.

"This is perfectly understandable given that this administration did not create any new economic sector," he said.

He added that the report also stated that abnormal economic growth in the past years was the result of one-off events and of an extraordinary and unprecedented revision of economic statistics.

"In the absence of such one-off events and in the absence of future revisions to economic data, economic growth in the short- and medium- term is expected to be more subdued."

The report also pointed out that proceeds from the sale of citizenship and the increase in excise taxes – including the increase in excise of leaded petrol and diesel - helped mitigate against the spiralling increase in public sector costs.

However, with proceeds from the IIP scheme on the decrease, the country was at a higher risk of failing to meet its fiscal targets. 

Dr de Marco noted that from the report one could conclude that the biggest contribution made by the government to the economy was not through the creation of new economic sectors but through pushing up public sector costs.

This, he said, was the third report to refer to the spiralling public sector cost, following on recent reports published by the International Monetary Fund and the Central Bank of Malta. 

Dr de Marco said that the forecast had to be seen in conjunction with Eurostat data which showed that the minimum wage in Malta was one of the lowest in Europe.

This confirmed the PN's stance that economic growth was not cascading through the economy.

"Despite claims of record growth, an increasing number of people are actually seeing their standard of living remain unchanged or actually deteriorate.

"Families that fall within this category are finding it more difficult to make ends meet and to make sense of the government’s talk of economic success," he said.