They are not the product of a University course but Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday hailed the “kitchen economists”, who understood how the economy pulsed.

The term was coined yesterday as Dr Muscat told supporters at the Żebbuġ Labour Party club that economic indicators were positive.

He said the kitchen economists, who managed family budgets and knew the price of products on the grocery shelves, had started to feel the positive impact of policies that bolstered economic growth and job creation.

“These economists know things are better than they were two years ago... people have more money in their pockets, utility bills are down and free childcare has allowed more women to work and contribute to the family budget,” he said.

The Prime Minister used the occasion, which marked the first Sunday of the local councils election campaign, to dwell on Budget 2015.

Żebbuġ is one locality were elections will be held on April 11, the same day that people vote in the spring hunting referendum.

“We did not speak enough about the Budget for obvious reasons but its impact will be felt in people’s pockets and they will notice the change,” Dr Muscat said with reference to the shooting incident involving former home affairs minister Manuel Mallia’s driver that happened two days after the Budget.

Dr Muscat said the government had over the past 22 months already achieved a 63 per cent employability rate, which had been promised by the previous administration for 2020.

The Prime Minister spoke of a country with new-found optimism and insisted wealth generation had to be accompanied by redistribution in a socially just way.

He said measures that cost money were taken without compromising the deficit target.

On Air Malta he said the government would not allow the airline to suffer the same fate as Cyprus Airways.

Last week the EU ordered that airline to pay back over €65 million in illegal state aid after the European Commission found that the Cypriot government breached the rules on support for struggling companies.

“This should be a wake-up call,” Dr Muscat said.