Drop in manufacturing contribution to GDP despite positive growth - PN
Although data published by the National Statistics Office showed that the economy experienced another quarter of positive growth, particularly through the contribution of tourism and financial services, that same data also pointed to yet another drop in the contribution of manufacturing towards GDP growth, shadow minister Mario de Marco said.
He said in a statement that these conflicting trends showed how the Maltese economy in general was growing at a positive rate, but not all sectors of the economy were growing at the same rate, to the extent that the contribution of the manufacturing sector was actually shrinking.
“When speaking of economic growth, the government seems to be ignoring the fact that average wages in the manufacturing and construction sectors decreased over the past two years, the fact that 300 persons are going to be made redundant from De La Rue and the fact that the number of persons living in poverty or at risk of poverty has increased in the past two years.
“Our pensioners, who are increasingly finding it more difficult to cope with the cost of living, the thousands of families who earn a living in the construction and manufacturing industries and who are...