He noted that just after Dr Muscat’s speech last week, government managed to secure a lucrative aircraft maintenance operation by SR Technics which will see Easyjet to service its entire fleet in Malta, earning praise from international investors.

The IMF was also full of praise for Malta, stating, in August, that reforms in the run-up to the adoption of the euro made the Maltese economy better equipped to handle a global crisis.

Dr Gonzi noted that while companies abroad were closing down during a global recession, Malta continued to attract investment which will result in hundreds of new jobs.

He observed that a number of statistics, including an increase in the number of gainfully employed, particularly among women, despite a decrease in public sector jobs was showing that the country was not in a crisis, as the Opposition appeared to claim.

Last year’s income tax cut also gave Malta one of the lowest income tax rates in the EU, while a €5.82 weekly COLA meant that all workers and pensioners would be receiving just over €300 a year as a result.

In a reaction, the Labour Party, however, described the speech as an obsolete speech by a discredited Prime Minister, who fostered division instead of seeking to unite the country at a delicate period.

The party said that Dr Gonzi attempted to reply to last year’s speech on the Budget by Dr Muscat, rather than this year’s – and still failed to provide an adequate reply.

It added that the Prime Minister did not explain why government failed to reach the targets set in last year’s Budget, and appeared not to understand what families and businesses were going through.

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