The government this afternoon denied an Opposition claim that a reduction in debt shown in Eurostat figures was the result of a statistical revision.
It observed that the revision had also included a revision of the GDP of Malta and other countries. This meant that the revision made absolutely no impact on the debt figure as a percentage of GDP.
The government also denied that public spending was exaggerated in a way which raised the gross national product, reducing the percentage of the debt to GDP. Had that been the case, the spending would still have been reflected in the debt, it said.
Under the former government, the government said, the nation debt had increased from 60% of GDP to 71%. Under the present government, between the second and third quarters last year, the debt was down by 2.7% of GDP, the second biggest drop in the EU.
PN CALLS FOR DISCUSSION ABOUT THE ECONOMY
In a reaction, the Nationalist Party called for a serious discussion on the economy.
Finance spokesman Mario de Marco pointed out that the Maltese economy stayed strong even during the international crisis.
The Opposition was ready and willing to work with the government for the economy to continue to grow, especially now that the international situation was far better. There were signs in some sectors were were worrying and the Opposition had a duty to point them out.
It was a fact that between October 1, 2013 and October 1, 2014, the debt rose by €220 million. The number of public sector workers in the year to August 2014 was up by more than 2,000. There was also a sharp rise in government spending, particularly in salaries, operational expenditure and spending by public entities.
Between 2013 and 2015 the government would have raised spending on salaries by more than €57 million, or 9%.
It was important that government spending was productive and sustainable.
Dr de Marco also pointed out that exports, industrial production and retail trade were down but the government was not admitting its problems, let alone coming up with a strategy to tackle them, hiding instead behind a dubious interpretation of statistics.