(Adds Finance Ministry's statement)

PL Deputy Leader Anglu Farrugia has called for 'measures and drastic action' to pull the country out of the wrong direction it is following. In a statement, Dr Farrugia noted that the latest EU Stability Programme Report for Malta said that unemployment was expected to climb to 7.4% this year and stay there till 2012.

At the same time, GDP growth was only expected to be 1%.

Such figures, Dr Farrugia said, belied government claims that it was creating jobs and that it had taken effective measures to counter the recession. Nor was it true that the worst was now over.

Instead of taking remedial action, the government was making the situation worse through the exaggerated utility tariffs and the introduction of a sewerage tax, Dr Farrugia said.

FINANCE MINISTRY'S STATEMENT

The Finance Ministry said that employment was an absolute priority for the government and this could be seen from its interventions to save jobs in factories which were directly affected by the international crisis.

This could also be seen from the new jobs created through new foreign investment, as well as, from a series of initiatives which encouraged job creation, the small enterprise and tourism.

While the opposition based its arguments on forecasts, it ignored facts.

In the EU, the ministry said, there were 23 million people who were unemployment. In a year, 4.5 million people lost their job. Those losing their job between December and January numbered 136,000.

Statistics published by Eurostat on Monday showed that unemployment in the Euro zone stood at 9.9 per cent in January. The rate in Malta was seven per cent. Unemployment in Malta was down by 0.2 per cent at a time when many other countries were registering increases. The same statistics showed a drop in unemployment among young people.

Unemployment was lower than in Malta in five countries and higher in 21, with many having an unemployment rate higher than 10 per cent, reaching up to 20 per cent in some countries.

The government, the ministry said, would continue to implement initiatives aimed at job creation.