Diesel, petrol prices not following overseas trends - Muscat

Labour leader Joseph Muscat this morning called for transparency in the mechanism of oil purchases and pricing, saying local diesel and petrol prices did not reflect fluctuations abroad. Speaking in Sta Venera, Dr Muscat noted that Enemalta on Wednesday announced the second  increase in diesel prices in as many months, for a total increase of 1.5%. In the rest of the world, he said, diesel prices had gone down 3%. Local petrol prices were down 2%, he noted, but abroad they were down 7%. This, he said, showed the need for transparency in oil purchases and pricing. Dr Muscat reiterated Labour's commitment to reduce the utility tariffs. The tariffs, he said, were the biggest obstacle to economic growth and social development. Rather than receiving zero amount bills, as the prime minister had said on Friday, people were seeing their accounts turned to zero when they paid their bills. In his speech Dr Muscat reiterated Labour's commitment to create a new middle class. Key to the new middle class, he said, was education, and it was unacceptable that the present government has reduced spending on education by €7 million as one of its measures to reduce spending. It would have been...