After months, years of trying to discredit our achievements, even at the risk of disrupting the country’s efforts at attracting investment and generating jobs, Labour seems to have given up the mantra of trying to convince all and sundry that the economy is plummeting and that the country is on the brink of collapse.
Malta needs to continue to regenerate itself, think outside the box...- Tonio Fenech
Faced with a torrent of reputable international institutions acknowledging Malta’s results in terms of economic growth and job creation, Labour leader Joseph Muscat has finally been forced to admit such growth. But now he says that the economy grew despite the government... Incredible!
How cheeky when such a statement comes from an erstwhile defender of the short-lived Labour government that managed to set quite a few unenviable records. It was no mean feat to bring the country to its knees in the shortest time frame possible while demonstrating impressive creativity in tax creation – no fewer than 33 new taxes in 22 months.
There is an element of worry in all this. If Dr Muscat geninuinely believes and says that 5,000 jobs were saved without the government’s intervention, well, that is a clear enough message that businesses will be left on their own.
Such misguidediness should serve as an important eye-opener of what Labour stands for because it shows lack of foresight and lack of ability to understand how our economy works.
The other day, I had the opportunity to visit an export-oriented company at Corradino industrial estate, Techniplast. During the plant visit, I was informed that some of the company’s major clients are precisely some of the big factories that were assisted in the crisis. Hence, our intervention in 2009 benefited much more than the 5,000 workers employed by about a dozen big firms.
At the time, we had been severely criticised by the opposition for postponing our deficit targets and choosing to assist industry. No doubt, had we not made such a responsible decision our economy would not have been able to generate 20,000 jobs during this legislature, with unemployment levels here being the fifth lowest in the European Union.
Yet, Labour has not learnt the lesson and still believes that Malta operates in a vacuum. Its dishonest campaign with regard to the €40 million partial Budget review is testament to this. Again, this responsible decision was taken to be better placed to counteract any impact that could arise as a result of increasing risks in the international economic situation and developments within the public finance sector. Thanks to this responsible decision, we have already been able to make an important move, that of absorbing some of Enemalta’s non-core costs and so avoid having to raise energy rates for families and industry despite substantial increases in the international price of oil.
We appreciate that entrepreneurs and small business owners contributed significantly so that the country can pride itself of the results it has achieved and is still achieving in terms of economic growth, job creation and sustaining a healthy quality of life. Listening to our economic partners meant that we delivered a number of initiatives that, ultimately, were tailor made to their needs, thus creating the right scenario for the economy.
Malta has also registered increases in exports. Is this also despite the government?
Let us for a moment leave aside the very basic concept that most of our investment comes from and our exports go towards EU countries, a market that Dr Muscat did so much to keep us away from. Yet, over the past three years we have been proactive, through Malta Enterprise, in encouraging exports.
This included EU funding for internationalisation, support through a record number of business delegations abroad and schemes, such as Gateway to Export, which are specifically targeted to entice companies in seeking export markets or in attracting investment.
These are yielding results. The €23 million wave energy research project being carried out in Malta by a Danish company, Dexawave, in collaboration with Euromed EcoPower, a local company, is a case in point.
However – and, I would dare say, most importantly – the government’s role in assisting local businesses is not just about funds and grants. It is our responsibility to ensure a stable economic and financial environment that allows businesses to operate with a tranquil mind. It is precisely in this context that the government has decided to absorb the drastic increase in the international price of oil and, therefore, find a way to avoid that such increases are passed on to businesses and to families.
This stability is being achieved through responsible decisions taken over time, starting from an important economic transformation process. Liberalisation and privatisation were not always met by consensus. However, these processes were crucial to be able to weather the storm.
If we look closely at some of our neighbours, we would see that the countries that were mostly affected by the crisis were the ones that were reluctant to change and implement similar difficult reforms.
Our challenge now is that of continuing our evolution. We need to continue to strike delicate balance between the successful efforts targeted at sustaining a continuous flow of foreign direct investment and the entrepreneurial spirit of the local business community that has experienced tremendous growth since the 1990s, forming, nowadays, the backbone of Maltese enterprise.
Malta needs to continue to regenerate itself, think outside the box and continue to identify those niches of growth that will make it an even more attractive proposition.
History has taught us that the Nationalist Party has been at the forefront of this regeneration and it has always been able to do so precisely because of its ability to regenerate itself. It is our duty as politicians or activists to ensure that it keeps doing so, in the interest of our country.
The author is Minister of Finance, the Economy and Investment.