The standard of living improved through the creation of more and better jobs, something the government was managing to achieve in spite of challenges, the Finance Ministry said.

In a statement replying to an opposition statement this morning that gross domestic product statistics issued yesterday confirmed what many families and businesses had been feeling for a long time, the ministry acknowledged that the country had major challenges to face and that the international crisis was not over.

NSO statistics published yesterday showed that Malta has entered recession following negative growth in two subsequent quarters.

Mr Vella said that the rate with which the government was increasing national debt was not leaving space for the country’s finances to be used to combat the recession the country had entered into.

The government, Mr Vella said, should say what its plans were and what steps it was going to take for the situation not to worsen.

The ministry said that the NSO statistics showed that many sectors were growing and becoming more productive so much so that wages had increased by four per cent when compared to the last quarter last year.

This was the direct result of measures the government had taken in favour of industry.

Families and business had also benefitted from lower taxes with a recent European Commission report concluding that Maltese workers were the least taxed in the EU.