Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1482478
6 maltatoday | TUESDAY • 25 OCTOBER 2022 BUDGET2023 Debt sustained at around 60% of GDP – Robert Abela 'Government has no long-term plan' - Bernard Grech K ARL AZZOPARDI MALTA'S debt ratio will remain sus- tainable despite government's pledge to continue supporting families with generous energy subsidies, Robert Ab- ela said. The Prime Minister said the debt-to- GDP ratio next year will still be below 60% as dictated by the Maastricht cri- teria and will only marginally increase beyond the threshold in subsequent years. The EU relaxed its sustainability cri- teria when the pandemic struck to al- low governments enough fiscal leeway to mitigate the impacts of the crisis. The criteria remain postponed for the time being. Malta is in a much better position than other Eurozone countries despite having spent billions to cushion the impact of the pandemic and now the Ukraine war. Asked what would government's threshold be to continue spending without raising taxes or cutting ex- penditure elsewhere, Abela said the projections are to remain in the region of 60%. Speaking at a press conference after his finance minister delivered Budget 2023 in parliament, Abela said next year's budget addresses the challenges faced by the country today, while pav- ing the road to the future. "Today because it addresses the chal- lenges of the present, and the future because it gives people the certainty and stability to plan ahead," he said. "We will remain a progressive force with a social soul." He said the budget is based on the La- bour Party's electoral manifesto, and looks to address the social needs of the people. "Others tried to scare people saying taxes would increase after the election, but this was a budget with the largest capital spend in history," he said. "Despite a global energy crisis, Mal- tese families and business do not need to pay an extra 1c for these services. Other countries are debating whether to shutoff energy, we are offering as- surances on the future for our fami- lies," Abela said. Addressing the country's traffic situa- tion and criticism that the budget fails to mention the metro, Abela said gov- ernment has already implemented free public transport. However, he said more investment is needed in better traffic management and this is being addressed. He also said that the Luqa and air- port junction projects, and the Mrieħel section of the Central Link project are not yet finished, causing disruption to traffic flow. Once completed they will contribute to better traffic management, he said. When asked about the metro and the Malta-Gozo tunnel, Abela said stud- ies are still ongoing for both projects. However, he said the tunnel project was not a government priority. NICOLE MEILAK THE Labour government's Budget 2023 shows it has no long-term economic plan, Opposition leader Bernard Grech in first reactions to the measures. In a press conference after the Budget, Grech said the Budget did not address bread-and-butter issues. "It's a lot of nice words but offers no direction or solution." He described it as a continuation of an economic plan that has failed. "Today we expected an alternative vision from gov- ernment – but we heard nothing of this." "No wonder the bag turned red from black – he's put the country in the red," he said, saying debt will increase by €1 billion in absolute terms. Grech argued that the Budget failed to address quality of life, with the cost-of-liv- ing burden increases while social help de- creases. He also noted that the budget for the disciplined forces was shaved down. He pointed out that capital investment in the heatlh sector was also cut down, "but he still found money to give to Vitals", he said – a reference to the three privatised hos- pitals handed to Vitals Global Healthcare, and later Steward Healthcare. Grech continued that, despite these cuts, government still spent thousands of euro on press conferences through pub- lic finances. He pointed out that few new measures were introduced for the educa- tion sector. "Tomorrow will be more of the same for Maltese and Gozitans." He put the credibility of the figures into question, claiming that government over- spent in its recurrent expenditure. "Even the finance minister admitted that a quar- ter of his promises weren't fulfilled." "We're on the tail-end of the pandemic, but this government's doesn't have a long- term economic plan. Even the finance minister admitted it was an error to base his model on quantity." When asked what the Nationalist Par- ty would have done different if it were in government, Grech said that a PN govern- ment would have worked to create new sectors and attract more nurses, teachers, and other workers in sectors suffering from labour shortages. "A Nationalist government would not only attract foreign workers but invest in incentives for our youth to work in existing and new sectors." He continued that the Nationalist Party would not "waste money on persons of trust". Grech will be delivering a more detailed reaction to the Budget 2023 next Monday in his own parliamentary speech. During the press conference, Grech was asked whether he read his party's pre- Budget document, which was riddled with spelling mistakes, poor sentence construc- tion, unnecessary capitalisation of words, and in some instances repetition of text. He said he read the document, and ac- knowledged criticism from the independ- ent press on the poor wording of the doc- ument. "But they didn't criticise our proposals or measures. They didn't say there were prob- lems in our economic strategy," he said.