A madly irresponsible Muscat claims to have saved the banks from collapse

Interviewed by Reno Bugeja (in chorus girl mode) on TVM’s Dissett the week before last, the Prime Minister made a madly irresponsible statement.

He had saved the economy, saved Enemalta and saved the banks from collapse, he said. Had he not saved the banks, depositors would have lost their money and “those who had saved something would have lost it”.

I suppose it was because of my own particular family history that this statement leapt out and struck me. I was stunned. How could he have said something so crazy, so off-the-wall, so irresponsible? Reno Bugeja didn’t even butt in. The next day, I expected major headlines: PRIME MINISTER CLAIMS TO HAVE SAVED THE BANKS FROM COLLAPSE. But there was nothing. I was caught up with the latest imbroglio in Panamagate and let it go by.

But people in financial services who heard his bald statement were shocked. They were shocked that he could be so irresponsible. “It’s because he’s from the backwoods,” I said. “And worse still, he has the mind of an immature teenager. He quite obviously doesn’t understand the significance, in the real world, of the Prime Minister of a European Union member state (or any other country, really) announcing on prime-time television that he had saved the banks from collapse.”

A statement like that can start panic. But did he care? No. It’s because Muscat’s credibility is now so badly eroded that there were no reactions in the market, but that is not to say that his claim hasn’t been noted with severity by the financial services industry.

Now The Malta Independent has taken up the story and exposed Muscat’s crazy claim for what it is. The report is long, but be sure to read it.