Many Families Skipping Sunday Restaurant Lunches, PN Warns As It Urges More Public Funds To Combat Inflation
Way more public funds should be allocated to food importers, businesses and farmers to combat the food inflation crisis, the Nationalist Party has insisted.
Addressing a press conference, PN MPs Charles Azzopardi and Rebekah Cilia warned that the crisis is forcing several people to cut back on their spending, with an early indicator being that more people are opting to stay at home rather than eat out for Sunday lunch.
They cited a recent It-Torċa article, which quoted a family of five stating they have stopped eating out every Sunday because it has become too expensive, with the bill often ranging between €80 and €90.
“Seeing as essential products like oil, sugar, milk, cereals and butter have become more expensive, it’s not surprising that restaurant prices have increased across the board,” Azzopardi said.
Cilia said many restaurants have been left with no other option but to raise their prices to save their businesses.
Food prices have shot up around the world in recent years, driven by supply chain disruptions following COVID-19 restrictions, and more recently by the war in Ukraine, which has often been described as the “breadbasket of Europe”.
The government has already allocated millions of euro to importers of cereals, flour and animal feed to incentivise them not to raise prices, but food has continued to shoot up in price.
Last weekend, Consumer Affairs Julia Farrugia Portelli said that while the government cannot intervene in the free market, people who feel they are being unfairly charged should search around for cheaper alternatives.
Consumer Affairs Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli
While the PN MPs agreed with her sentiment against meddling with the free market, they insisted the government should spend more public funds to alleviate the problem.
“The free market shouldn’t be used as an excuse for the government to remain silent,” Cilia said.
“We need concrete solutions from a government which claims to be socialist. Before the war even started, the PN had proposed in its manifesto the creation of a €40 million fund to help people in manufacturing.”
The Labour Party reacting by casting doubt on their opponents’ credibility, arguing that Malta had one of the highest inflation rates in the EU under the last PN administration, when it now has one of the lowest rates.
“Hundreds of millions of euro in public funds are being invested to keep energy prices stable and to aid sectors like wheat, cereal and fisheries,” the PL said.
“How different to Bernard Grech, who is on record saying that if prices increase overseas, they must increase in Malta too.
“Meanwhile, household incomes have been boosted by tax cuts and increases in pensions, children’s allowance and work-in benefits, among others.”
What should be done to combat food inflation?
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