‘Absolute Majority’ Of Maltese Businesses Not Raising Food Prices Unfairly, Robert Abela Says
The “absolute majority” of Maltese businesses aren’t raising the price of food unfairly to capitalise on the inflationary impact of the Ukraine war, Prime Minister Robert Abela said.
“People are rightly questioning whether the food price hikes they’re experiencing are wholly the result of the war or whether businesses are capitalising on the situation,” Abela said in Parliament yesterday.
“I believe that the absolute majority of Maltese businesses are honest and hard-working, they made sacrifices as they kept on working during the pandemic and they’re looking to the future with a sense of optimism because the economic wheel has kept on turning.”
The Prime Minister added that authorities in Malta and the EU should continuously monitor food price increases to assess whether further aid must be granted to farmers and importers.
He also played down calls, including by ADPD, to impose price controls on food by stating that “we will remain a free market”.
As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its fifth month, debate has grown over the efficacy of the sanctions imposed by the EU and other Western nations and the inflationary impact they’re having on Western markets.
Finance Minister Clyde Caruana
Malta’s Finance Minister Clyde Caruana recently said that sanctions are ultimately harming European workers more than Russia and warned this could be the prelude to huge political shifts on the continent.
Abela took a more cautious stance, stating that while Malta supports the sanction regime, including a planned embargo of Russian gas, its efficacy must be regularly monitored.
“I was clear [during a recent EU Council meeting] that we must ensure the sustainability of these sanctions,” he said. “We must take stock of the current sanctions and assess their efficacy before implementing new ones.”
“Sanctions can be an important tool but we cannot close a blind eye to the negative impact it has on our citizens. I am in favour of sending a clear message to the aggressors of this conflict, but this shouldn’t mean that our citizens end up paying the highest price of the sanctions themselves.”
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