Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said today that the Opposition expected the government to keep its promises when it presented the Budget tomorrow, and to ensure that the people's standard of living improved.

Speaking in a Radio 101 interview, Dr Busuttil said that while economic data showed economic growth, the national debt was rising sharply and retail trade, industrial production and imports and exports were down.

"Once the government is saying that everything is going well, I expect the government to distribute wealth in a fair way," Dr Busuttil said. One could not have a situation where somebody was paid €58,000 and others were given 58c.

He observed that while unemployment was down, the government had engaged 4,400 workers between the general election and the end of June. This amounted to artificial job creation. What was needed was the right investment climate for the private sector to create jobs. 

On the cost of living, Dr Busuttil said a 58c raise was inadequate. When the PN was in government and gave a raise which was twice that, Dr Muscat had not blamed the existing Cola mechanism, as he was doing now, but had led street protests. The 58c were inadequate, and the government had a duty to ensure that living standards were maintained, particularly for those with a low income.

The government was boasting of having reduced electricity tariffs, but families were paying for that by having their cost of living adjustment raised by only this small amount. At the same time the people were also paying the highest rates in Europe for petrol and diesel.

The Budget, he said, needed to be built on honesty, especially as the prime minister had lost his credibility when he did not keep his word about the building of the new power station. 

In the Budget speech, he said, the finance minister needed to show that the government was able to create wealth in new sectors. So far it had only been able to benefit from what the former government had done. 

The government needed to stop squandering and ensure that wealth was distributed with fairness, Dr Busuttil insisted.