Updated 3.40pm - Added PN reaction

Finance Minister Edward Scicluna today warned against a pre-election “race to the bottom” where the government would be pressured to match unsustainable promises made by the Opposition.

Addressing a press conference, Prof. Scicluna expressed his hope that the Opposition’s proposals would be doable.

“Wild statements” about the minimum wage and the energy sector risked creating instability, the Finance Minister said.

Prof. Scicluna said damage to Malta’s reputation was being done by “certain individuals”, particularly in Germany. He said it was simply not true that Germany nationals had 1,000 hidden accounts in Malta.

The Maltese tax authorities automatically shared information with their Germany counterparts, Prof. Scicluna insisted.

“As Maltese we need to defend our countries against lies. Malta deserves better,” the Finance Minister said.

Prof. Scicluna said a number of recent reports by the IMF, European Commission and rating agencies all showed that Malta’s economy was going strong.

Everyone was benefitting from the distribution of wealth and poverty was decreasing, he said.

He said income inequality was the fourth lowest in the EU.

Prof. Scicluna denied that government expenditure was increasing, saying that the deficit had in fact fallen.

The Finance Minister admitted that reducing government bureaucracy remained an ongoing battle.

'Muscat can sense defeat' - PN

With the "smell of defeat" in the air, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his cabinet had started their fearmongering about an eventual PN government, the party said in a statement. 

The PN said that if elected it would investigate and clean up corruption that had "disrupted the country", give investors peace of mind about good governance, lower income tax for all small businesses to 10 per cent on their first €50,000 of profit, halt environmental degradation, solve Malta's traffic problems and help society's least privileged "which have been completely forgotten by Muscat."