Editorial

Suppliers of goods and services expect to be paid straightaway for goods or services sold or, if not straightaway, at least over an agreed period of time. Judging by the way it treats importers of medicine, it appears the government goes by a different norm when it buys its supplies for use in hospitals. It is not unusual for the government to pay late for supplies but it looks that this time the delay has been such that to the importers it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The problem is that, according to information given by a minister, the funds allocated for the purchase of medicines have run out. Importers have now been promised that the funds will be replenished next month. This is far from being a satisfactory reply. It is no wonder that the importers are furious over the government's attitude. When, almost a year ago, the importers were the target of criticism over the fact that the prices of certain medicines were higher than in other countries on the continent, the importers earned the wrath of many a consumer. Eventually, the prices of eight types of medicine had gone down as part of the work done by the Consumer and Competition Division.

Now the focus has shifted to the importers' cause. A few days ago, pharmaceutical importers warned that they may have to stop importing essential medicines if the government failed to pay them for the goods they had already supplied. They estimate they are owed between €25 million and €30 million, certainly not an insignificant sum. When the time came up for them to send their VAT returns, some importers attached to them invoices that had yet remained unpaid, not cheques for the amount due to the government. According to their representatives, others sent a note saying they were unable to settle the tax bill as they were cash-starved due to late payment by the government. A suggestion put forward by Alternattiva Demokratika is for the government to offset dues with tax owed.

Was it smart on the part of the Finance Ministry to merely confirm that the government intended honouring its commitment to pay the importers? This reply might have given foreigners the wrong impression of the kind of Administration running the island. Surely, it did not cross anyone's mind either at the Finance Ministry or at any other ministry, for that matter, not to honour the commitment! The key question was not whether or not the government planned to pay up or not but when it intended doing so. Saying there was no time frame within which to do so must have been equally frustrating to the importers. At least, the Social Policy Minister owned up when he said the funds for the purchase of medicine had run out.

More to the point, the minister, John Dalli, said the government was now looking into possibilities for a solution to the problem. He has in mind a reform of the procedure involved in the purchase of medicine.

This is all to the good but why did the government not follow an agreement which the importers say they reached with it back in 2005? Besides other matters, the agreement laid down the time within which payment had to be made. The importers say they kept their end of the bargain but claim the government did not. If this is the case, the importers are right in feeling that the situation is not acceptable.