PN notes warnings in IMF report on Malta

The Nationalist Party said this afternoon that the IMF country report on Malta, issued last night, was a certificate to the PN administration and a warning to the current government on job creation. The spokesman on finance, Tonio Fenech, in a statement, said the IMF report was a clear certificate to the economic and financial policies of the previous government. It was also becoming clear that the Labour government was not giving job-creation the importance it deserved, and the IMF was concerned about this. Mr Fenech noted that, like the EU, the IMF was doubting that the governemnt could achieve its deficit reduction targets, even though these targets had been lowered. It was the government's mistaken decisions which had led to Malta being put under the excessive deficit procedure, Mr Fenech pointed out. He noted that the IMF had warned of economic over-dependence on property and the banks' exposure to this sector, something which could also have implication on the government's land reclamation project.