Budget will target society's most vulnerable: Finance Minister

The next Budget would seek to give a boost to the most vulnerable in society, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said this evening.

Such measures, he said, were in line with other measures introduced by this government in the last three years that led to the first decline in poverty in years.Prof Scicluna was speaking during the latest in the public consultation meetings called Gvern Li Jisma.“Our aim is to reduce poverty and we are a workers’ party. Rest assured that by the end of this legislature the situation will improve further,” he said.The Finance Minister said that this government had managed to change direction in the sense that people were no longer expecting a windfall of measures on the eve of a general election after four years of austerity.“We are being generous but in a controlled manner, as part of a long-term plan,” he said.Prof. Scicluna remarked that the PL’s “road map” was drafted on the strength of the feedback given during their time in Opposition by social partners and the civil society.

He said that measures like the stamp duty exemption for first-time property buyers and free childcare facilities cost millions, but the country got much more in return.The...