Government economists are looking into “strange” statistics that indicate high inflation rates are down to more expensive tourist accommodation, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.
Our success cannot be measured by the size of our island, but by the size of our ideas
Official figures show that inflation reached 4.2 per cent in July before easing slightly to 3.2 per cent last month.
Both those figures are higher than the EU average.
In a recorded interview aired on Radio 101 yesterday, Dr Gonzi that the figures appeared to be related to costlier tourist accommodation.
“This is strange, seeing as hoteliers are insisting that their rates haven’t gone up,” the Prime Minister noted. “I’ve asked our experts to look into it.”
The Prime Minister’s statement did not wash with the Labour Party, who suggested that instead of investigating EU statistics, Dr Gonzi would do better to look into his “made-up” claim that 20,000 jobs had been created this legislature.
Dr Gonzi insisted that the day-to-day running of government remained unaffected by ongoing unrest within the Nationalist Party’s parliamentary group.
“We plan on presenting the budget by the beginning of November, as is usual. The legislature is almost over, and the election the Labour Party has been harping on about is now around the corner.”
But according to Dr Gonzi, the Government still has important decisions to make before it goes to the polls.
“I won’t announce a date just to satisfy some people’s curiosity,” he insisted.
Dr Gonzi also spoke yesterday evening at an education-themed dialogue session held at Floriana’s granaries as part of Malta’s annual Independence Day celebrations.
He told the enthusiastic crowd that a record number of students had applied to enter University and Mcast this year.
The Prime Minister also framed the ballot box decision for floating voters as one between a party “that has never been afraid of making much-needed changes” – the PN – and a party “that constantly tried to meddle and experiment with the education system”, in the form of the Labour Party.
Dr Gonzi also equated the PN with change in a Radio 101 interview, insisting that while people were right to demand it, genuine change could only come from the PN.
“Changing government is not the sort of thing you do for the sake of it. It’s like entrusting your baby to someone. Your baby isn’t a football to be kicked around,” the Prime Minister argued.
In his evening address, the Prime Minister pointed to his party’s educational track record.
“We’ve never closed a school, removed stipends or charged university fees.
“We changed things gradually and carefully, without any sudden shocks to the system,” he said.
As a result, he continued, the number of students who furthered their studies to post-secondary level had almost doubled since 1999, from 43 per cent then to the 83 per cent figure of today.
Dr Gonzi concluded on an inspirational note. “We’re no better than other countries – but we’re no worse either. Our success cannot be measured by the size of our island, but by the size of our ideas.”