Prime Minister Joseph Muscat warned this morning that a new Nationalist government would bankrupt the country if it kept its electoral promises.
He was speaking at a press conference with Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, who said that the PN lacked a sound, feasible economic and business plan, in contrast to the Labour Party.
Dr Muscat said Labour was doing the PN's work by telling the people how much its proposals would cost.
He accused the PN of being naïve and shocking in its pledges, especially regarding its promise to raise pensions to the level of the national minimum wage. In this area alone, he said, the PN had made a mistake of €100 million.
Under the Labour government, he said, Malta was in an exceptional economic trajectory but under the PN, the country would be bankrupted. The deficit, he warned, would rise to 14% and Malta would land in an excessive deficit procedure. The people would possibly face higher VAT and social security contributions.
On Saturday, he said, the people had to decide who to trust in the economic driving seat and related stability.
Prof. Scicluna said that under Labour, the fiscal surplus would be maintained and the debt would continue to go down. Economic growth would be over 6%.
He said the PN promises were expensive, citing as an example the €53 million needed for childcare centres and €21 million for children's allowance and school transport for all.
The raise in pensions would reach €125 million and not €18.5m as the PN was claiming. In all, he said, PN promises would cost the country €1.3 billion, forcing an increase in borrowing and a widening of the deficit.
He asked whether taxes would be raised for the PN to keep its promises.
Replying to questions, Dr Muscat denied that confidence in Malta's financial services sector was decreasing. He said the authorities were concluding arrangements for a number of gaming and financial services companies to come to Malta, and their names would be announced soon.
'Sweaty hands'
Asked whether he regretted having, during the Xarabank debate, referred to Simon Busuttil's sweaty hands, given that he suffered a particular medical condition, Dr Muscat said he was unaware of any medical condition, and in any case, Dr Busuttil had earlier referred to his body language.
Asked to react to reports that Konrad Mizzi took kickbacks from the power station project, he said the minister would be judged by the people and he would decide on his future afterwards.