Nationalist claims that capital expenditure decreased false: Abela

*Updated at 5pm with PN comment*

Prime Minister Robert Abela has accused the Nationalist Party of deceiving the electorate when it said Budget 2026 reduced the government's capital expenditure. 

Abela said €1.1 billion has been allocated for next year, three times more than previous Nationalist administrations used to allocate.

"The Nationalist Party lied when it said the Budget reduced the government's capital expenditure," Abela said during a political event in Gzira on Sunday morning.

He also referred to the €100 million that will be given to families and businesses in incentives and investment in artificial intelligence.

Speaking about Vision Malta 2050, the Prime Minister mentioned more than 400 organisations took part in the consultation held, but nothing was submitted by the Nationalist Party, even though an extension was requested until the end of October, when they changed leader.

"Is this the Nationalist Party's new page, an empty page, like all the other promises they made, whilst not even presenting a formal pre-budget document so that the people have a chance to understand their vision?" Abela questioned.

Abela described Budget 2026 as a package for families, contrasting the government's proposals with the Nationalist Party's alternative, which he said would have excluded 30,000 families with one child from tax relief measures.

Abela said the government managed to reduce the tax burden whilst collecting more revenue, which is being distributed to the people, because the economic policy of the government is "an economy for the people." 

"Families, whether they have children or not, will always benefit with a Labour government," the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister also referred to the increase in pensions, saying that pensioners will have a strong increase every year, so that "what the GonziPN government" stole from them, a Labour government will give back.

The Prime Minister said pensioners know where they stand with a Labour government and will continue to receive ever more increases.

Abela quoted Eurostat statistics released this week showing that the European economy did not grow at all, because the German and Italian economies either decreased or remained where they were. He also referred to what is happening in the United Kingdom, with the British government telling its people that taxes need to be raised. The Maltese government on the other hand was slashing taxes in Malta, he said.

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, who also addressed the activity, said the government is improving the productivity of the country with better quality work. He stressed Malta's economic future will not depend on how many people we have working, but on how much each worker is worth and feels valued.

PN accuses Abela of lying over Vision 2050 submissions and capital expenditure cuts

The Nationalist Party has accused Prime Minister Robert Abela of deliberately lying about the Opposition's participation in the Vision Malta 2050 consultation process.

In a reaction to the Prime Minister on Sunday, the PN revealed it had scheduled a meeting to present its proposals before the deadline, but the Government postponed it to 12 November. "Either the Prime Minister does not communicate with his Minister for the Economy, or else he prefers to keep deceiving people, thinking he can score political points by lying about the Opposition," the party stated.

The PN also challenged Abela's denial of capital expenditure reductions, pointing out that Government figures clearly show a reduction of more than €100 million in capital spending compared to last year.