Mangion accuses Gonzi of ‘not reaching’ his financial aims

“The excuse that the increase in public debt in the first seven months of the year was intended to make good for an increase in interest rates that might have occurred in August does not result because with the €100 million loan that the Government issued following the publication of Legal Notice 275 of 2010 last May did not save anything in interest rates,” Mangion charged in a statment issued this afternoon.

The Labour’s main spokesperson for Finance explained how even if the Government had indeed borrowed before the need to do, this has had “a negative impact” on interest paid by the Maltese people, which was now paying €551,000 daily.

“This means that interest paid by the Government for the first seven months of 2010 increased when compared to the same period last year, and increased with €8 million when compared to the same period in 2008, when the Government was lax in its spending in the period of the General Election,” Mangion insisted.

He explained how this showed that “rather than improving, the burden is always increasing”.

Fenech was also “incorrect when he did not admit that entry from income tax had increased “because of an amnesty that he approved and which has now been extended till the end of this month,” Mangion charged.

He explained how when at the end of December 2009, the Government had had borrowed €104 million more, the reason that was given at that time by the Government itself was to have more liquidity.

“At that time, the Government had explained that this increase in public debt would have regulated itself and there would have been the need for less borrowing during the first few months of 2010,” Mangion added.

“In reality, this has not happened and the Gonzi Government has exceeded its deficit targets with more than €100 million,” he charged.

Furthermore, Fenech had not given an explanation that while the Government saved around €35 million from water and electricity subsidies, saved around €40 million from the shipyards’ subsidies, earned millions more from tax amnesties, and with the additional debt that Enemalta the Government has collected €23 million in excise duty, “it has nonetheless felt the need to borrow more that in needs and burdens itself with more burdens of debt and interest rates,” Mangion insisted.

“It is clear that while the Minister tried to give the impression that the finances are under control, in reality, despite the huge sacrifices that families are being forced to make, nonetheless the financial situation of the Gonzi Government did not improve,” he charged.