Former PN Candidate Frank Psaila Praises Government’s Economic Management After Fitch’s A+ Rating
Former Nationalist MEP candidate Frank Psaila was a special guest on ONE TV’s Sunday breakfast show this morning, participating in a discussion about the state of the economy.
In his intervention, Psaila highlighted how credit rating agency Fitch recently affirmed Malta’s rating at ‘A+’ with a stable outlook.
“This is a really good rating considering we’re just coming out of a pandemic and heading straight into the Ukraine war crisis, two main factors that undoubtedly created huge problems for the global economy,” Psaila said.
“Nevertheless, Fitch placed us close to the very top, a great certificate for Malta that will give courage to businesses and investors.”
Noting that Malta’s GDP growth of 9.4% last year exceeded Fitch’s initial predictions of 5.7% growth, Psaila attributed this to measures taken by the government to support businesses during the pandemic and the resilience of Maltese workers and businesses.
“If a student sits for an exam and gets an A+, we would say he has passed with flying colours,” he noted.
Psaila also zeroed in on a particular aspect of the speech the President gave when opening Parliament last week to set out the government’s agenda for the next legislature.
“I noted a particular emphasis on the need to diversify the economy and that we shouldn’t only rely on traditional sectors but also new ones like digitalisation,” he said. “We’re such a resilient people and with the help of an economy that’s doing well, our prospects look good.”
“We must keep our feet on the ground and fix past mistakes, but all in all, our prospects look good.”
Psaila contested the 2019 European Parliament election and, with over 13,000 first-count votes to his name, he was the PN’s third most popular candidate.
However, he fell well short behind incumbent MEPs Roberta Metsola and David Casa and he didn’t get elected.
He has maintained a low political profile since then but resigned from the PN last month, along with his wife Alessia Psaila Zammit (who was also a PN candidate) in the wake of its electoral trashing.
Psaila said they resigned from the PN so they could ”focus on their legal profession, business activities, impartial participation in the media and other public roles”.
His assessment of the Maltese economy is markedly different from that of his former party.
In a recent statement, the PN warned that the economy is facing threats from several angles – such as declining consumer confidence, the island’s position on the FATF grey list, international moves towards a global minimum corporate tax rate, the European Commission’s stance against Malta’s citizenship-by-investment scheme, and increased public expenditure as a result of the pandemic and the Ukraine war.
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