(Adds government's reply)
The Labour government is continuing to burden future generations of Maltese with debt as could be seen from Eurostat figures which showed that this had increased by €220 million in the third quarter, Finance shadow minister Mario de Marco said.
He said in a statement that while the government was trying to boast that debt dropped as a percentage, it did not say that global debt had in fact increased.
The drop in percentage terms was the result of economic growth which, in its majority, was not coming from the private sector but from the government, which in the past 20 months employed 4,500 people in the civil service.
Moreover, a recent revision in statistics led to an increase of around three per cent in the gross domestic product.
Dr de Marco asked in which useful projects or services was this government’s debt being spent noting that the previous administration had invested the people’s money in major infrastructural projects which were still being enjoyed today.
The Nationalist Party, he said, hoped that the government would take the country’s financial situation seriously because the experience of neighbour countries was enough warning for the government to change track.
Debt, he said, should be reduced in a sustainable manner and not through one time measures which did not solve long term problems. It was only in this way that families and future generations could be given peace of mind.
MALTA ON THE FOREFRONT IN DEBT REDUCTION - GOVERNMENT
But in a reply today the government insisted that the official Eurostat figures confirmed that Malta was on the forefront in debt reduction.
The ministry said that under previous Nationalist administrations, the country had been burdened with a national debt of €5 billion in 10 years. This government's aim was to stop the alarming increase in public debt.
The ministry also noted that the Eurostat figures were only until the third quarter of last year. This meant that they did not take into account the Enemalta-Shanghai agreement, which led to an investment of €320 million in the energy sector.
It said the government was confident it would continue to strengthen the country's finances in a way that would augur well for the country's future stability.