VALLETTA, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Malta's Prime Minister Robert Abela on Sunday pledged more measures to tackle inflation in 2024 as part of the government's fight against the increased cost of living.
Addressing the nation in his New Year speech, Abela said the government could not be indifferent to the challenges that families were facing.
"I can confirm that in the coming days, we will implement more measures that we have already announced, and we will continue working with all our stakeholders" to tackle the cost of living, he said.
Abela said the country's economy kept going at a strong pace and the government chose "a path of investment and progress, and not one of gloom or austerity," which some European countries have been undertaking.
In his address, Abela also mentioned the international front. Calling for peace and dialogue, he stressed that Malta is "a country against war and aggression, irrespective of who the perpetrator is."
What the prime minister referred to includes the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Middle East. Earlier this month, the leaders of Belgium, Ireland, Spain and Malta sent a letter to European Council President Charles Michel, calling the bloc to agree on imposing targeted travel bans and asset freezes on violent settlers who are attacking and displacing Palestinian settlers in the West Bank, and highlighting the "death toll, level of destruction and the dire humanitarian situation" in Gaza as "unbearable."
