Stronger Malta, stronger families

Just three years ago, within a few weeks of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi taking office, Malta joined the EU, which was bound to offer our country great opportunities but also new challenges and responsibilities.

Malta, at that juncture, had to take some very important long-term key decisions necessary to ensure we can reap the maximum benefits of membership. Some decisions that needed to be taken lead to some pain and, consequently, disgruntlement. As a responsible government we embarked on this budgetary consolidation programme, even if back then we were not completely understood by all. It was a necessary process, however.

The challenges were immense, including generating jobs. This is what it was all about, creating jobs: More and better jobs, by creating the right environment to attract foreign investment, making our economy grow by strengthening tourism and investing in our industry and infrastructure.

This is only part of the work and strategy we embarked on and, in all honesty, the list is endless and not without tremendous pressures, like the unrelenting increases in the price of oil and the latest steep international price increases of agricultural produce and food.

Three years down memory lane there seems to be consensus that we have made our country stronger; with our feet on and ears to the ground, today we can claim that the economy is bouncing back with this year's growth rate in real terms reaching 3.9 per cent.

We are also experiencing one of the best years in tourism and an all-time record of 140,000 gainfully occupied with the lowest unemployment level for years at 3.9 per cent.

The results achieved in controlling the structural deficit are also impressive with the projected deficit for this year expected to be in the region of 2.1 per cent of the GDP and next year reducing further to 1.2 per cent to Lm 28 million.

We have clearly managed to make Malta a much stronger country. Earlier this month, The Economist published an article on the developments that are unfolding in Malta and concluded with a remark which clearly captures what we have managed to achieve over the past three years: "If only the bigger economies in Europe could move so nimbly in the face of globalisation".

The European Commission has also recently made a bold statement: That the country's economic polices and the results achieved are both "credible and sustainable".

The budget for next year clearly reflects these realities. As a stronger country, Malta today can afford what was unaffordable or unthinkable three years ago. In this budget, we have stepped up our efforts to ensure that the wealth being generated is cascaded to citizens because our ultimate goal is not merely to have a stronger country but also to build a stronger society and a better quality of life for families.

That is why as part of a two-year plan we have not only not introduced any new taxes but have continued to significantly reduce income tax through a reform in the income tax bands. We increased children's allowances and re-introduced universality - ensuring that everyone will now be entitled to children allowances. We have eliminated succession duties for the surviving spouses, pensioners and ensured workers will be receiving an increase in their pay of Lm1.50. We have improved the benefits for families having persons with disabilities. We are introducing a national breast cancer screening project and extending maternity leave by a week to 14 weeks. These are only few of the measures announced in the budget to strengthen families and continue to invest in education, environment and health.

If one had to assess the bold polices and measures taken by the Gonzi government over the past three years one can only conclude that our motivation has consistently been in doing what is right for the country and for our citizens.

History is treating us fairly and we are now already reaping the fruit of difficult decisions - that, yes, implied short-term pain to achieve long-term gain.

Alfred Sant has been leading his party for over 15 years. His party has failed to get a grip of the transformation the country has been undergoing over the years. Dr Sant and his party's contribution in this bold transformation of our country have truly been too little, too late!

Mr Fenech is Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.