Government using statistics to score cheap political points - Mario de Marco

By seeking comfort in a marginal two per cent increase in exports in October, the government was again choosing to ignore the worrying drop in exports that took place over the past two years, shadow minister Mario De Marco said.

The value of exports in October this year remained on the same level as in the same month last year and was much lower than in October 2013.

"The slight increase in the value of exports during October offers little or no consolation to the thousands of workers whose livelihood depends on the manufacturing industry, which industry is facing a challenging future.

"Neither does it offer comfort to the 300 De La Rue employees who are being made redundant due to a restructuring process which the Prime Minister hailed as an investment, Dr De Marco said.

He said this was not the first time that the government was selectively choosing and interpreting statistics to suit a political end.

The government repeatedly quoted retail statistics, stating that these were higher than EU average. It, however, failed to mention that retail sales were being artificially bolstered by the steep increase in fuel consumption.

Retail statistics disseminated yesterday by the...