Eurostat’s analysis on retail trade confirmed that, yet again, Malta was the worst in Europe, PN deputy leader Mario de Marco said.

In a statement following the publication of Eurostat data this morning, Dr de Marco said that this showed that, in October, Malta suffered the biggest drop in retail trade from among EU countries.

Dr de Marco said the Prime Minister could not blame any international problem for this.

 This was because, for the first time, practically all other member states saw an increase in sales with the average sales in the EU increasing by two per cent.

Only Slovenia suffered a marginal drop.

Dr de Marco noted that retail sales in Malta and Gozo had gone down in three of the past four months when compared to last year.

This showed that the problem was a persistent one, more so when the government continued to ignore it and throw it under the carpet.

He also pointed out that the statistics was for October, which was before it was announced that Maltese families would be faced with increases in their car licences, insurance tax, a new tax on wines as well as payments for government services.