The most positive aspect of Budget 2015 is the government’s intention to tackle social benefit fraud, which has undoubtedly weighed down the country.

The initiative to coax the young people – who have displayed a reluctance to work – into employment is positive and the government deserves credit for taking such a step because it will not be a popular move with core Labour supporters.

However, while such measures look good on paper, they will be pointless unless there is an efficient enforcement system. This has been the failing of many governments when they tried to tackle the many professional social services abusers.

The evasion of tax is also a major problem, which, again, successive governments have failed to address despite the positive nature of VAT. This Budget makes an attempt to close another loophole here too by introducing a final withholding tax on the sale of property. Too many developers have managed to get away with not paying this by using loss-making companies to acquire property bought purely for speculation purposes.

The government is also seeking to provide incentives to entice people into employment as well as helping low-income earners. The one-off €35 additional bonus to those who have not been affected by the income tax cut is reasonable and the disability sector is also being given a much-needed boost.

With a projected rate of growth of 3.5 per cent and a deficit of 1.6 per cent for 2015, the economic trends are encouraging. Yet, there are worrying signs when it comes to imports and exports, the drop in retail sales and the growing national debt.

Many would also have expected the Finance Minister to announce the deal for the part-sale of Enemalta to Shanghai Electric Power. However, the most that Edward Scicluna was willing to say at a press briefing for journalists was that “there’s a high probability” that it will take place.

As Prof. Scicluna himself admitted, the Budget depends on this to a large extent as the government is owed €50 million in excise tax from Enemalta. How is it planning to make good for these huge shortfalls should the deal fail to materialise?

It was, however, encouraging to hear that the government intends to try and tackle what has become – despite misplaced talk of “perception” – one of the country’s major problems: traffic.

Bus fares will remain unchanged for the next three years, though whether that is sustainable is another matter, and what will count more than anything is implementation. Last year we heard of plans to ban heavy vehicles and horses from the roads at rush hour – and nothing happened.

The government’s intention to open a discussion on school hours is also welcome.

The biggest loser in this Budget is, perhaps, the environment. The government has already shown that it is prepared to bend over backwards for the construction sector but – with the exception of the plastic and aluminium collection scheme (sadly an admission that the grey bag recycling scheme has failed) and an increase in licences of polluting cars (though this seems too stringent) – there are hardly any initiatives in favour of the environment. Polluters are certainly not being penalised.

Is this a left-wing Budget? It will be sold as such. But it might be more accurate to label it as a Budget with some good intentions, though, as we all know, hell is paved with so many of those.