‘Government must carry out necessary reforms to bring deficit down’

The Chamber of SMEs (GRTU) has called for an urgent meeting to be held at the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, to discuss Malta's deficit as the European Commission prepares to launch an excessive deficit procedure to get Malta to bring its fiscal shortfall to below 3% by 2014.

In a statement, the GRTU said that Malta could achieve a 2.7% deficit by 2014 if government employs all stakeholders, irrespective of political allegiance, in implementing the necessary solutions to cut spending and generate revenue.

"If this situation is not given the attention necessary and the urgent priority it requires, irrespective of any electoral promise, the weak economic growth and lack of job growth will only worsen. The EC's decision is damning for Malta and takes us back to difficult times."

The GRTU claimed that the EDP could have been avoided had political leaders and MCESD shown more maturity in addressing major social and economic issues and reforms. "The Commission did not give much weight to the fact that Malta's is an open economy that depends on its external environment. The Maltese authorities should have insisted with the EC consider this before taking the economy into excessive deficit procedure for the third time."

The GRTU also said it was a mistake for the Labour opposition not to support the Budget 2013 in December, which was not passed after Nationalist MP Franco Debono voted against it, saying that this tarried economic growth in the ensuing four months of electioneering. "The political confusion of 2012 drowned out Malta's positive economic momentum, and the long electoral campaign was of no help to Maltese enterprise... important reforms in pensions and health financing were shelved without regard to public spending, when they had to be treated with urgency."