Prices of food, clothes, shoes, health care and education have been rising sharply in the last few months.
The same happened in other countries in the months before introducing the Euro. Government has been aware of it and has done little of substance to stop these price increases which have further undermined our purchasing power.
Way back in April 2005, during a meeting in the board room of the Central Bank, called especially for the business organizations and the unions represented in the Malta Council for Social and Economic Development (MCESD), a study was presented about how prices rose in countries in the months before adopting the Euro. The study showed that in these countries, the prices of basic commodities and services rose drastically at a rate of between eight to 30%. In the months following the introduction of the Euro prices rose very slightly, at the rate of 0.8 to 3%.
While some of the price increases in Malta in recent months can be linked to the rise of the international price of oil and wheat, a lot of other prices rose more steeply than they did in other European Union (EU) member states.
The EU price index shows that between October 2006 and October 2007 food prices in the EU increased by 3.9%, but in Malta they shot up by 6.6%. During the same period clothes and shoes cost 1.1% more in the EU while in Malta they cost 7.8% more. Healthcare increased by 1.4% in the EU while in Malta it increased by 2.5%.
Government did too little and too late when it reached a so called ‘Price Stability Agreement’ with several importers not to increase their prices up till March 2008. Before this agreement was reached, prices had already increased considerably. In September and October 2007 the prices of food and clothes increased by over 6% while education services became over 5% more expensive.
The Malta Labour Party agrees with the EU Commissioner for Consumer Affairs that our country lacks effective structures for consumer protection. The Labour Party, once in government, will provide this protection within the framework of an open free market economy, through proper price monitoring, six monthly reports to parliament about price movements and concrete steps taken to check abuses where price increases cannot be justified.
A Labour government will take the necessary steps to encourage more local and foreign direct investment to achieve a higher economic growth rate than at present. A Labour government will also increase the purchasing power of consumers by not taxing income derived from overtime and reducing the water and electricity surcharge by half.

Losing the yachting race
The Nationalist government’s failure to create the right conditions to encourage the building of new yacht marinas in Malta and Gozo is causing us to lose out on the lucrative business of yachting tourism with yacht owners cruising the Mediterranean opting for other destinations instead of our islands.
We are losing out on the possibility of attracting yacht owners to include Malta in their Mediterranean holiday itinerary, simply because there are not enough berthing spaces available. For every Lm1 spent by tourists arriving in Malta by air, a yachting tourist spends Lm30.
Other destinations in the Mediterranean are investing heavily in this tourism niche market. Italy is planning to build 60 new yacht marinas, with a capacity of 200,000 yacht berths. France’s marinas for yachters can accommodate up to 227,000 berths. Spain’s yacht marinas offer 107,000 berths to visitors. Even Turkey, considered to be one of the smallest yachting centres in the Mediterranean, can accommodate up to 25,000 yachts.
Malta has only 1,807 berthing facilities for yachts. Government has been going on for years saying that it wants these islands to become one of the main yachting centres in the Mediterranean. But government’s actions have not matched its words and while our competitors are surging ahead with more yacht marinas we are lagging behind, way behind.
There is a long list of foreigners wishing to visit Malta on board their yachts, but they do not come because we do not have enough space for them. Instead they go to other countries. We are thus losing substantial income.
The situation would be much different under a Labour government. A new Labour government plans to encourage the building of more yacht marinas in Malta and Gozo. Moreover, we will ensure that these will be run on the international ‘Blue Flag’ standards for yacht marinas to protect the environment. While increasing income from this kind of tourism, we will also be ensuring that yacht marinas will not be a source of pollution and degradation of our marine and coastal environment.