Government says: “Telling people the details of Electrogas guarantee will leave us unable to manage the economy”

Published: July 20, 2015 at 4:45pm

economic turmoil

The government has turned down The Malta Independent on Sunday’s request for details of the terms under which it has stood as guarantor for 88 million euros of a 101-million-euro loan which Electrogas Malta Ltd has taken from the Bank of Valletta..

It was given the loan after it tried and failed for almost two years to raise the finance required to build the power station to which the government has tied its survival.

The newspaper made its request under the Freedom of Information Act, which means the government is obliged to give its reasons if it does not accede to the request.

The Ministry of Finance, in its response, said that the details of the government’s 88-million-euro guarantee for the private company’s bank loan could not be made public because if people know what they are this could cause economic turmoil, “a substantial adverse effect on the ability of the government to manage the Maltese economy” and also “a substantial adverse effect on the financial or property interests of the government or of another public authority”.

“The public interest that is served by non-disclosure outweighs the public interest in the disclosure,” the Ministry said.

In other words, they’re not telling us what they have agreed with the bank and Electrogas Malta in guaranteeing Electrogas Malta’s mammoth loan, because we might panic and economic turmoil would ensue, and then they wouldn’t be able to manage the economy.

And that’s supposed to be reassuring.

This is a massive story and it hasn’t got the attention it deserves. One Finance Minister went down for taking a trip to a football match on a private plane with these very people. But this Finance Minister guarantees their debts to the tune of 88 million euros using public money, says that he can’t make the details public because panic might ensue, leaving the government unable to manage the economy, and he’s still standing while the rest of us discuss John Suda priapic behaviour.