PN calls for hike in salaries, without raising minimum wage

The Nationalist Party has called for a raise in workers' salaries, but without increasing the minimum wage.

Citing the Labour Force Survey, PN deputy leader Mario de Marco said that inflation has effectively led to around 80,000 workers witnessing a decrease in their salaries between 2013 and 2015.

"These workers include clerical support workers, plant and machine operators, salespersons, and those in elementary occupation," de Marco told a press conference. "Indeed, the General Workers' Union has called for an increae in salaries, which is a very pertinent point."

While the Labour Force Survey figures don't take into account workers' social benefits, de Marco argued that government expenditure on benefits has remained stable between 2013 and 2015.

He called for a study and a debate on how employers are spending their profits - on whether they are distributing them to their workers, investing them back in their companies, or retaining the, for themselves.

"While an increase in the minimum wage might seem like the obvious solution, alternatives do exist," the PN deputy leader said, without giving examples.

He also backed the Chamber of Commerce’s fresh call on government to reduce energy tariffs so as to help out the manufacturing sector, that declined by 8% last year.

“The country must do everything in its power to consistently increase its competitiveness, by significantly reducing fuel prices and by cutting energy prices again.

“While the recent 25% reduction in energy bills was welcome, the market price of oil has slumped significantly since them, and tariffs should reflect that.

“Even though the decline in industrial production was due to international consequences, that doesn’t mean that Malta shouldn’t react.”

Malta’s economic growth ‘leaning on one-off cash injections’

De Marco warned that Malta’s economic growth, that reached 6.3% last year, is unsustainable and far too reliant on one-off injections - namely EU funds, the IIP sale of citizenship scheme, and the construction of the LNG power station.

“Last year, the power station construction generated €300 million into the economy, while the IIP programme generated €120 million, and EU funds €190 million,” de Marco said. “Without those three factors, the economy would only have grown by 0.1% last year.”

He noted that the power station is a one-off investment, that the IIP scheme is capped at 1,800 new citizens, and that Malta’s role might well alter from a net beneficiary to a net contributor of EU funds by 2020.

 “The current economic growth is positive, but a responsible government would realize that it is based off one-off expenditures that are unsustainable in the long-term,” he said. “At the same time, it must percolate to all strata of society through an increase in wages.”

The PN deputy leader also warned that government recurrent expenditure is on the rise, shooting up from €560 million in January-February 2015 to €573 million in January-February this year. Significantly, personal emoluments to government staff shot up by around €44 million during that period.

At the same time, government’s total revenue declined by €64 million during that period, mainly due to a significant reduction in revenue from EU funds. The main revenue increase came from customs and excise duties, largely due to the new tax on fuel introduced at the start of the year.