The economy needed a clear and focused intervention by a government that was not concentrating on internal battles, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this morning.

Speaking on the recession in Malta during a telephone interview with One from Dubai, Dr Muscat said that the Labour Party was already working on this and had launched a series of ideas which would aid economic growth.

The statistics published on Friday, he said, confirmed what the people had known for a long time - that the economy was not producing the expected wealth and that the wealth being created was not being fairly distributed.

But most worrying was the government’s reaction to the situation.

He had expected a realistic reaction for the country to start seeking solutions and had believed this would be the case when the Prime Minister acknowledged that the situation was a worrying one.

But the Finance Minister then tried to blame everyone except himself. He wanted the merit when things went well, but not to be blamed when they did not.

It was ridiculous of the Finance Minister to blame ST for the recession. It this was the case, it was also due to ST when the economy grew.

The Finance Minister also blamed the fact that water and electricity rates had not been increased on the recession. So was the government expanding economic growth when it increased the tariffs.

The increase in water and electricity rates, the labour leader said, had sent small and medium enterprises to the brink of bankruptcy and Labour was reiterating its promise that it would reduce these rates.

Dr Muscat also referred to his visit in the United Arab Emirates and said that he was spending the day today in discussions with Tecom officials.

The 5,000 jobs which had had to be created at SmartCity by the end of this year had not materialised and Labour wanted to know what was happening.

As a new government, it had to work for the promises which were made and not kept by this government to happen.

The discussions taking place were frank open and this was being appreciated. He said he would also be discussing developments at Go, which, although a private company, was an essential one for infrastructure in Malta.

The government, Dr Muscat said, was no longer fit for purpose. It could not solve and take the decisions needed in such situations.