What’s the PN’s €1 billion spend all about? Miriam Dalli and Joe Giglio draw swords

Half of the PN’s €1 billion investment will be loaned out with a government guarantee, PN candidate Joe Giglio revealed on Monday.

During an interview on Xtra, aired on TVMNews+, Labour minister Miriam Dalli pressed Giglio on the PN’s new €1 billion package.

PN leader Bernard Grech said earlier that half of this package will come from public funds by tapping into dormant deposits in several financial institutions. The rest will take the form of loans provided by domestic and foreign institutions.

“So the Nationalist Party will send businesses off to borrow money - will government be guaranteeing these loans? Yes or no?” Dalli questioned.

Gigio said that the information he has suggests that this will be the case.

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The PN’s €1 billion funding pledge will go towards 10 economic niches, including robotics, 3D printing, and the metaverse.

However, Dalli stated that the Labour Party has already attracted investors to work in these niches. “This week we had an investor visit our country - a Harvard graduate - looking into medical training in the metaverse. But my jaw drops when I hear these things, it suggests that the PN lives in a vacuum.

She revealed that government is set to announce a big investment in the aviation sector next week, but refrained from giving further details.

To this, Giglio said that while some of these niches are already operating in Malta, the Nationalist Party is determined to strengthen.