The government has accepted a request to keep the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) updated as the year goes by on progress in the implementation of the Budget measures, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said today.

The proposal was made last week by the GWU.

Mr Fenech was speaking at the presentation of the 2009 progress report on the implementation of the Malta National Reform Programme 2008-2010.

He said that the governemnt was satisfied with the progress which had been achieved, in that it had been able to contain job losses and create new work despite the toll on tourism, manufacturing and trade.

Jobs, he stressed, were also the focus of next year's Budget, and the Budget measures were addressed for that purpose.

He pointed out that the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs - in terms of which the Malta reform programme was drawn up - may have to be revised since the global economic downturn meant that Europe would not be able to attain the targets which the strategy established. Indeed, he said, even though economic recovery could now be on the horizon, many European economists were speaking of a jobless recovery, something with which the Maltese government disagreed since it was committed to job creation.

He said that apart from job creation, other aspects of the reform programme which were being given importance included the creation of a more business-friendly regulatory environment, the public transport reform, research and development, the Mepa reform and the provision of a secure, cost effective power supply.