Shadow Economy Minister Says He Quoted Joseph Muscat’s Survey To Flag Malta’s Economic Challenges
New PN Economy Spokesperson Ivan J Bartolo said he recently quoted an economic survey commissioned by Joseph Muscat because the survey raised an important point about declining consumer confidence.
“We were simply quoting a source that fell in line with several other European reports on consumer confidence,” Bartolo told Lovin Malta. “All we wanted to do in our press release was to express the reality that we need to address the overarching economic situation.”
“A lack of consumer confidence means that government revenue through VAT will decline. Meanwhile, projected revenue through the IIP scheme could go down as the scheme is being challenged by the European Commission, while Malta’s taxation system could be challenged by moves towards a global 15% corporate tax rate. Also, unlike other European countries, Malta is still on the grey list.”
“The essence of our PR was to ask where our money will come from. Are we going to keep on increasing our debt and deficit or are we going to reinvent the island?”
Former PN MP Jason Azzopardi
Muscat’s survey, carried out by Vincent Marmara’s data research company Sagalytics, shows that private household consumption remains considerably lower than pre-pandemic levels.
This is despite a July 2021 survey showing an improvement in post-vaccination consumption levels and previous surveys indicating that people intend to significantly boost their consumption once they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19.
However, Bartolo’s and Small Business Spokesperson Robert Cutajar’s decision to quote the survey raised a few eyebrows, with former PN MP Jason Azzopardi criticising them for quoting “a man who was named the most corrupt politician in the world” in 2019 to make a political point.
Yet Bartolo dismissed these concerns.
“Our statement was not meant to give weight to Joseph Muscat and those who think it was are either missing the wood for the trees or had ulterior motives,” he said.
“I’d have quoted the report had someone else published it. The source has got nothing to do with it and I don’t want this to become political spin because it won’t add any value.”
“Malta is wasting too much energy discussing irrelevant things when we must focus on how we are going to improve our nation and turn the country into a more favourable jurisdiction.”
“We need to get off the grey list, plan on how to improve our name globally afterwards, and we need to invest in education, improve our skill base and think of different proposals to attract FDI.”
Do you agree with the PN’s decision to quote Joseph Muscat as a source?
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