The budget’s economic strategy was correct as it aimed to curb the deficit and reduce public expenditure, the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU said.
However, the GRTU could not understand the measures presented in the budget so it could only describe it as two-faced, smiling when it came to strategy but frowning when it came to measures.
The GRTU said in a statement that the deficit should be curbed not just to avoid a €10 million fine from the European Commission but also because it was the wrong strategy to allow the deficit to grow during a recession.
Over expenditure by the government in the past year had not been addressed towards an increase in employment and that was why there had not been the desired impact on economic expansion.
The government, the GRTU said, was right to try to reduce the economic imbalance which Malta had with foreign countries.
This was what the country had to overcome.
The GRTU said it had proposed a bank credit guarantee to encourage small enterprises to invest in restructuring and renovation while generating new economic activity.
The focus of its proposals were aimed at giving small and micro enterprises a push encouraging them to look ahead with confidence.
The finance minister had adopted a good number of ideas presented by the GRTU but the budget was not giving small businesses anything more than they already had through EU financed schemes, implemented by the ETC.
Others were being punished through the increase in the price of fuel, an essential expenditure which absorbed all that Maltese families had received as a wage increase.
The country’s budget deficit was increasing its national debt and the government should retain as a priority that this deficit was shrunk in line with EU rules and in the best interest of the country.
This should not be done through an increase in taxes but with a reduction in public expenditure.
The GRTU believed that there was still a lot of expenditure by public authorities which was without strict control.
There was also a lot of abuse, especially in social assistance and the GRTU wanted more attention to be paid on what was spent on free medicine and assistance to economic sectors.
As the economy was again growing thanks to the financial and services sectors, other sectors had not yet reached the economic activity level they had prior to the 2008 recession.
The GRTU had called for a more determined and encouraging budget when it came to small businesses and had moved a whole package of proposals of how all sectors it represented could be assisted without increasing the financial deficit, it said.