Malta is well on track to emerge from the recession by June, in line with predictions, but this depended on whether the country's tourism industry picked up, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.
With the extra assistance being given to hotels and restaurants and the setting up of a base for Ryanair in Malta, which would see the introduction of several new routes, Dr Gonzi said he was "cautiously optimistic" this would happen.
He said the country's deficit stood at 3.8 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, adding he would not risk predicting whether the government would achieve its previously set target of eliminating the deficit.
Addressing a press conference on the second year of this legislature, Dr Gonzi said 2009 had been a challenging year for the government but one that had yielded results, despite the turbulent international economic scenario.
While other countries had raised taxes and taken tough austerity measures, his government had placed jobs at the top of its priority list and extended assistance where it was needed most in order to safeguard jobs and attract new investment.
The Employment and Training Corporation found jobs for 4,027 workers, while over 7,200 people started working for the first time, raising to 18,494 the number of new workers so far in this legislature.
Dr Gonzi said over 30,600 engagement forms had been processed for full-time employment and another 21,000 for part-time jobs. Moreover, the ETC last year offered courses to nearly 6,800 people, an increase of 2,000 over the previous year.
In addition, he said, the government handed out €80 million under various investment schemes, from almost 2,200 companies, factories or individuals benefited.
In other areas, Dr Gonzi pointed out that the government had raised the budget of the Malta Tourism Authority by €31 million and more airlines were encouraged to start operating to Malta. Various schemes were launched to help hoteliers and other operators in the tourism sector.
Assistance was given to the self-employed and SMEs, including tax credits announced in the last Budget, which were benefiting 28,000 people.
Asked whether the government had learnt any lessons from the industrial unrest that followed the announcement of the new water and electricity rates in October 2008, Dr Gonzi replied in the affirmative.
He said the government had learnt its lesson and had voted an extra €10 million to help ease the burden of the new rates on families.
Asked about his solution to troublesome backbenchers, that of twinning them with ministers, Dr Gonzi said this was a system used in other countries, which have what are known as parliamentary private secretaries. He intended to introduce the system for backbenchers to make them contribute more, maximising on the good human resources available.
Reacting to the comments, the Labour Party said Dr Gonzi's second year in government was characterised by economic uncertainty, incompetence and political instability, which harmed families and businesses.
In two years, the Prime Minister managed to break his main promises to achieve a surplus in government's finances by 2010, to generate jobs, to keep free healthcare and lower taxes. The country instead was faced with a record deficit of €410 million, 7,758 unemployed people, the highest water and electricity rates in Europe, a proposal for healthcare to be charged and an increase in taxation.