22 - 28 June 2000

MCED and finance minister to discuss Budget 2001 tomorrow

by Franco Aloisio

The Malta Council for Economic Development (MCED) and Finance Minister John Dalli will be meeting tomorrow to begin consultations over the next

budget.

Budget 2001 will be on top of the agenda of the MCED, Mr Dalli told The Malta Business Weekly. The minister added that he will giving a presentation on the country's present financial situation to the constituted bodies during the meeting.

"The aim of this meeting is to develop a model of consultancy which should take place between the government and the constituted bodies," Mr Dalli said.

The government was often criticised in the last years for failing to properly consult with the social partners prior to the budget. Regarding tomorrow's meeting, The Malta Business Weekly spoke to the chairman of the MCED Prof. Edward Scicluna. Prof. Scicluna said such a meeting shows that the MCED "is breaking new ground". "This is a very positive sign," he said.

"The MCED will be in a better position to assess the government's budgetary intentions and come up with a unified stand of what needs to be done. So far, each constituted body presented its submissions to the minister, and there was no unified stand."

Meanwhile, commenting on the latest figures on government finances, Minister Dalli said these statistics show that the government is "on track" in reducing the public deficit. He said the deficit was being controlled by increasing government revenue and reducing expenditure.

The statistics published this week show revenue increased by Lm28m to Lm244m in the first five months of this year. On the other hand expenditure increased by Lm20m to Lm277m.