Currency devaluation

Alfred Sant's call for the devaluation of the Maltese currency has raised the hackles of the party in power. The rebuttals that the government and its propaganda machine feed to the people may serve to assuage most people's worst fears in the short term.

The potential adverse impact is emphasised but nothing is said about the positive aspects of a devaluation. No one on the government side dares state the obvious: that the lira is really overvalued.

That Dr Sant is an alarmist and banality is his alter ego plays well, especially at a time when the country is still trying to digest the budget proposals.

What this government is hoping for is that this anomalous situation could be strung out until the changeover to the euro comes about, whereupon the inevitable rise in the cost of living could be attributed to the effects of "currency stabilisation".

Given that the lira to euro changeover has been pushed back to the year 2008, three years is a long time for anyone to be holding one's breath.