PN accuses Labour of being 'detached from reality'

In a rare statement issued in English late this afternoon, the PN information director insisted that the current economic situation called for “cautious optimism, sound government policies, a resilient economy and a capable workforce”. These, the PN claimed, contrasted “sharply with Labour’s detachment from reality”.

The PN has accused the PL of “trying hard to downplay the significant improvements made in our economy”. Muscat’s Labour Party was “showing how detached it is from reality,” the PN claimed.

The global financial and economic crisis had swept across the world at an alarming speed, bringing to their knees strong economies and large corporations, “wreaking havoc with hundreds of thousands of workers losing their jobs”.

According to the PN statement, Malta “felt the pinch but our economy showed resilience” The PN claimed that “contrary to what happened elsewhere, the results were not catastrophic as some, especially Labour, expected them to be”

Government’s “sound economic policies” and the resilience of the Maltese workers and small businesses “won the day for Malta’s small economy and the results are indeed encouraging,” the PN contended.

The PN boasted how over 2,500 jobs were saved and more than 7,000 jobs were created in 2009.

According to the PN, there was also an increase of 3,700 people in employment in the past year according to the latest Labour Force Survey, and a decrease of 500 people registering for work. “with Malta now having one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe”.

Moreover, according to the PN, there was an increase of 35% in exports and an increase of 4% in GDP.

The PN also boasted about an increase of 11% in tourism arrivals, an increase in industrial production, the highest registered in May in more than a year, as well as a decrease of €50m euros in Government’s deficit

“Recession would have brushed us were we led by the Labour Party which has absolutely no policies and no vision on job creation and economic recovery,” the PN charged in its statement.

The PN also accused the PL of objecting to “a series of much-needed reforms”, including Labour said no and vociferously objected to a series of much needed reforms, including transport reform, pensions reform, Shipyards privatization; euro introduction; introduction of low cost airlines; Government help to industry ;and investment in education, health and tourism.

At the same time, the PN conceded that “more needs to be done and the effects of this economic recovery need to percolate further in people’s pockets”.

However, according to the PN, the situation was “definitely not bleak” and there was “no need for the doom and gloom which Labour repeats ad nausea”.

Labour’s main spokesperson for the Economy and Self-Employed Gavin Gulia had insisted in a statement earlier today that despite “the euphoria of Lawrence Gonzi’s Government about the NSO GDP statistics, this growth is still not reaching families, especially workers and middle class”

Gulia had explained how the GDP growth in the first six months of this year had been caused by higher profits in the financial sector, especially banks.

Gulia had lamented that this had not happened to the income of families. “If one analyses thoroughly the figures, one will find that during the first six months of 2010, wages and salaries for families grew only by 0.1% in nominal terms, which means that in real terms, after factoring in inflation, salaries and wages of Maltese families continued falling by 1.1%,” he had charged.

He had explained that while the NSO figures had purported that wages had increased in the second quarter of the year when compared with the first quarter, “in fact wages decreased in the two quarters of 2010 when compared to the first and second quarters of 2010, which was the year of the economic crisis”.

Gulia had explained that if Maltese families had really been benefiting from some growth, then this sentiment would have been reflected in other economic indicators.

“For instance, the Government does not explain how the consumer confidence indicator published by Eurostat about Malta remained low to record levels,” he had insisted.

In fact, growth in private consumption in the second quarter of 2010 had been less than that registered in the first quarter of 2010. “This means that the further time passes, instead of feeling more hopeful to consume more, are further they are reducing their consumption because they are feeling that their financial situation is deteriorating, and this at a time when our country should have come out of the recession,” Gulia had charged.

He had also lamented that despite the fact that the NSO statistics had been showing that the construction sector had been recovering, “if there is a sector that has not come out of the recession, is exactly the construction sector”.

“While NSO now is claiming an increase in wages and profits in this sector of 7.8% and 14% respectively, the same NSO, through a press release 160/2010 issued less than 15 days ago, said the opposite – that wages in this sector fell by almost 5%, jobs dropped by almost 10% and working hours plummeted by 12%,” Gulia had charged.