Despite the advice received from Standard & Poors to increase utility tariffs, the government has acknowledged that the important thing was to find an alternative solution to weathering this temporary spike in oil prices, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech told Parliament.

The government’s ultimate priority is to safeguard employment, industry and businesses

Introducing the debate on the Bill implementing the budget measures, Mr Fenech said that despite the crisis the government did not rush. The issue was not just solving the immediate problem, which was undeniably a problem as oil supplies must be paid for, but the truth was that putting this additional burden on families could have had serious consequences.

These were the government’s choices, even in the face of the opposition’s continuous criticism, he said. The budget was not just about figures and estimates published annually, but must be revised monthly, and even weekly, to take circumstances into consideration.

Mr Fenech said that this budget was intended to continue to work at incentivising jobs, boosting the economy and creating an environment which was attractive for investors, despite the current difficulties.

The government’s ultimate priority was to safeguard employment, industry and businesses, so that the social framework could be sustained. This priority was given great importance in the budget.

In the past four years the government had invested over €42 million in various initiatives to help over 560 industries to procure new machinery, to develop export markets or establish contacts, or to invest in Research and Development, innovation and E-business.

The budget was intended to boost the economy, offer incentives for industry and SMEs, extend assistance to the tourism industry and boost economic activity in new sectors, such as the creative industry.

The government had introduced a number of other initiatives – such as the €300 annual allocation to each elderly person living at home, various schemes to help SMEs and the one year tax exemption for mothers returning to work.

­The Business First initiative was one such example, with 50 enterprises under one roof and under the aegis of Malta Enterprise, to give new businesses the opportunity of having one turning point when it came to seeking help. The most serious crisis Malta faced was that of the manufacturing industry. The government had intervened, Mr Fenech said, adding that he had met with the ST Microelectronics CEO personally to explain why the government believed ST should remain in Malta and how the government could help and was ready to contribute. Listening to Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat saying the economy had grown despite the government was shocking.

The truth was it would be a very different scenario, in terms of sustenance of various economic sectors, if it weren’t for the government. Concluding, the minister said that if Malta wanted to remain sovereign and offer help to other countries, rather than ending up like other EU counries, it was important to ensure that the country was led in a financially-sustainable manner.