When alarm bells start ringing

During the past weeks I came across two specific economic reports and indicators that, in my opinion, are cause for alarm and require further technical analysis by the present Administration and imposes an obligation on it to explain their social implications and effects to the public.

The first publication is the Eurostat report on the Volume Of Retail Trade For April 2011 within EU countries where, with reference to Malta, besides being the country with the largest drop in percentage terms both compared with the previous month and the same month last year, depicted also a consistent negative trend for the past months compared with last year.

Now, for anyone who is keen in reviewing any published economic and/or social indicators relating to our country and, especially, when hailing from a highly reputable institution such as the Eurostat, such trends and indicators cannot but raise many questions. These questions should be asked particularly within the context of the prevailing political scenario where the Nationalist Party and the government keep throwing selected statistics they feel are worth communicating and in line with their current spin strategy to prevent any serious and forward-looking debate on the actual state of the economy. This is also apparent from the outcome of the PN general council held a few days ago.

The PN in government is happy in saying Malta is doing well, despite the problems some other EU member states are facing, but without addressing the problems that are endemic to our economy.

The second publication that I came across shortly after the above Eurostat report is the Central Bank of Malta quarterly review 2011 where, among other things, it contains a “consumer confidence indicator” that, as noted in the report itself, seems to have nose-dived in the past months and has reached a record low for the past years.

According to this report, “respondents (who participated in this survey and, one assumes, are a representative sample of the population) were also more pessimistic about their ability to save and about unemployment prospects”!

In one word, people are feeling very “uncertain” about their future and this is quite worrying for our country.

It is not too difficult to understand what induced the “respondents” to reply in such a manner.

Month after month, the public is being faced with increases in fuel prices established in an ambiguous and not so trans-parent manner, knowing that 55 per cent of the price is actually taxes imposed by the government.

The insensitive and, at times, careless handling of the Air Malta issue with workers notified simply through articles and interviews in the media that makes the situation even more uncertain for them.

The Prime Minister and ministers busy awarding themselves a pay increase of €500 a week while families are striving to make ends meet on a daily basis.

A government that is in constant internal “firefighting” mode rather than engaged in a long-term development mindset.

Various projects being announced in the run-up to the next election but it is unclear whether the funding for them is at all available and has been provided for.

The questions raised in connection with the tendering process of the extension of the Delimara power station and those pertaining to the damage caused to the environment and to our health due to the “technology” to be used in its running.

The Bisazza Street/Arriva mess that will be simply resolved with more tax money being pumped out as a result of incompetence and lack of coordination and communication between ministries and public agencies.

More employment of an indefinite, precarious nature rather than long-term jobs.

The list could go on and on.

The indicators that were published practically within one week of each other cannot but raise further questions in the mind of the ordinary observer. And this especially given the prevailing political scenario where the government is surely alienated by its own “internal” conflicts to maintain a parliamentary majority while carelessly attempting to tackle very important national issues or, worse, postponing in addressing them.

I believe this country can also improve in terms of the quality of discussion and debate and not only be run by the government/PN’s “convenience-of-the-day” agenda that, we now all know, results in an avalanche of spin through various quarters of the media.

At such a delicate moment of uncertainty for them, the Maltese people deserve a much better and stronger government that is capable of addressing “head-on” the economic challenges this country and its people are facing. It is in this regard that the Labour Party and, notably, its leader, Joseph Muscat, is ably emerging as a valid, dynamic and competent alternative to the party in government. This ought to happen sooner rather than later.

Dr Zammit-Lewis is a practising lawyer and a Labour Party candidate for the eighth district.