A few months ago, members of the government publicly disagreed on how to market brand Malta better. While I’m not aware that any way forward has been identified so far, there’s no doubt that so far Labour has managed to ensure Malta’s continued presence in the international news: unfortunately though, this has happened for all the wrong reasons.
Whether it’s the passport sale saga, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s comments on immigration and “wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee” mantra, which brought ridicule but no effective action which supports Malta’s needs, as well as the former home affairs minister’s driver shoot-out, Malta has effectively been the subject of negative press month after month.
One of the latest news concerned the state of our public finances.
Only a few days had passed since Finance Minister Edward Scicluna delivered the longest Budget speech ever and the European Commission shot down its content in one sweep.
In a harshly-worded statement, when looking at next year’s projections, it noted that the government was at risk of busting Budget limits, claiming that the government’s performance and actions were “far from what was recommended”. The Commission points out “the risk that the correction of the excessive deficit may not be achieved, owing to the apparent lack of a sufficient effort to support it”.
While some may argue that public finances do not affect our daily lives, we may fail to appreciate the impact this may have. Firstly, any corrections to the debt levels will be paid directly – or indirectly – by taxpayers, either through increased taxation or through reduced expenditure in key areas such as health, education and infrastructure. Secondly, financial stability is a key consideration made by potential investors who want to reduce risk as far as possible.
The stability of public finances is therefore a key element in attracting investment which generates growth and better quality jobs. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to lose more ground in this context. A recent EY survey noted that Malta’s attractiveness as an FDI destination has gone down by 10 per cent this year. In simple terms, investors are no longer feeling at ease doing business in Malta.
One should challenge the government to tell us what have people like Alex Sceberras Trigona, Joe Grima and Sai Mizzi brought to Malta so far
Clearly, Labour cannot point to a financial or economic crisis. Rather, while the majority of EU countries that had been affected negatively by the economic and financial crisis felt over the past years were now slowly registering positive results, the same couldn’t be said for Malta. Statistics published by Eurostat clearly show that imports, exports and industrial production were on the decline, with Malta registering the highest decline in industrial production when compared with all other EU member states, a decline of 7.4 per cent.
That not everything is quite right has been confirmed by the NSO, through its GDP figures. While the government simply harped on about the real growth figure of 3.8 per cent, a better look at the underlying data behind this number would certainly dampen this enthusiasm. In fact, on closer look, one can see that this growth was mostly public sector-driven. Indeed, the public sector contribution in terms of value added has reached 33 per cent, that’s a staggering 13 per cent increase in just two years.
On the other hand, the same statistical release confirms the difficulties within manufacturing that has shrunk again by 11 per cent – which is truly worrying for the 30,000 employees employed by the industry.
It is in this context that, rather than simply resting on a few positive headline figures, I appeal to the government to look truly at the information that is being churned out, to identify sources of difficulty and to action them as effectively as possible.
I do hope that the government appreciates the concerns of these employees. They merit the government’s support – who found no difficulty in creating 4,400 new jobs within the public sector in less than two years.
Naturally, besides safeguarding existing investment, efforts at improving the inflow of FDI must be strengthened, and overseas appointments should reflect the best possible resources that Malta has to offer, rather than to provide political favour. One should challenge the government to come clean and tell us what have people like Alex Sceberras Trigona, Joe Grima and Sai Mizzi brought to Malta so far, despite their expensive salary packages.
Having said this, I still believe that our country and its people have so much potential. During the gloomy days of the international crisis, determination and hard work made Malta one of the most successful small states in Europe. This is why I appeal to the government to put the interests of our families before partisan gain. Our families have worked hard when times were tough: now that the European economic climate is faring better, they should not be made to pay for the government’s extravagances – but helped to seize the opportunity for a better quality of life for all.
Marthese Portelli is the Nationalist Party’s spokeswoman on European affairs.