The recently announced Budget has been lauded as a good budget by the government and its satellites and criticised as visionless by the Opposition. In this country where opinion is so polarised and politicised it is very hard to draw an independent assessment of any event or phenomenon. Here comes my five cents worth contribution to the debate.
I think that public opinion and its influencers should move away from the traditional micro-economic criteria for assessing a budget. As things stand we still tend to over-emphasise the little gains or losses to specific sectors while losing track of the much bigger question. What determines our prosperity is the government’s strategy and vision and its acting upon that to steer our economy to explore other niches of opportunity while strengthening the flagship sectors of our economy.
Our prosperity in 2016 is determined by the wisdom of the governments of the late 1990s and early 2000s in opening up an immense market in the European Union and in adapting our regulatory structures to attract industries like online gaming, financial services and pharmaceuticals.
Likewise, our prosperity in 2020 and beyond would be largely dependent on the strategies put forth by the Labour government right now. So the 2017 Budget should not be analysed with the simple expectations of an accounting exercise but with the expectation of steering manoeuvres for our economy for the decade ahead.
Our prosperity in 2020 and beyond would be largely dependent on the strategies put forth by the Labour government right now
The problem is that no matter how hard you try to localise strategy there is little to be found in the 177 pages of the official Budget document. It is rife with minor clinical interventions carefully calibred according to largely political objectives while lacking the strategic measures to juxtapose our economy for the serious challenges ahead.
And challenges ahead we have plenty.
A simple case study of two of our best golden eggs – the financial services industry and the online gaming industry – will demonstrate that both these industries, now contributing roughly 20 per cent of our economy face serious challenges from different fronts.
The recently announced European Consolidated Tax Base proposal may shake the fundamentals of our financial services industry while the ongoing process of ratification of a Council of Europe convention on sports integrity risks outlawing a good chunk of our online gaming industries.
What is this government doing to safeguard our high moral ground with regard to these proverbial chickens laying the golden egg?
In a world where reputation and reputability has increased tenfold in importance our present government is sending our reputation to the grave by selling European citizenship and by taking a main actor’s role in the Panama Papers revelations.
If that was not unfortunate enough in terms of governance the Panama Papers revelations themselves are becoming the main motivating feature fuelling a strengthened European, or rather global, movement for tax fairness. To face that movement Malta used to count on its solid reputation in Europe and worldwide. With a main government minister and the chief of staff in the midst of the Panama Papers scandal that can be said no longer.
In the above context the government’s budget is not only visionless. It also fades completely into the background of the butcher readying his axe to kill the chicken laying the golden egg.
Amanda Abela is a Nationalist Party general election candidate.