The ‘most social budget’ of the ‘most pro-business government’ ever at a time when the Maltese economy is supposedly at its best has been presented.  Slogans and clichés are what stand out most in this government’s populist rhetoric.  Few days after the presentation of the Budget for next year, I get the feeling that people are still perplexed at what could have been, rather than discussing what is effectively being promised.

Having the Prime Minister and his entourage of ministers and spokespersons singing the praises of the Maltese economy on a daily basis raised the hopes of the Maltese people spectacularly.  The Finance Minister’s speech was a collection of promises supposedly aimed to increase the way of living of the lower strata of our society.

Being labelled as a Budget to create more wealth and to ensure its fair distribution, the least one would have expected is to find in the Budget speech some form of a government plan which identifies new sectors which could guarantee further growth, while creating new job opportunities.

However the government opted to hand out small mercies in the form of allowances or grants.   While increasing the burden on the government’s recurrent expenditure, these are measures which do nothing to stimulate growth in the medium to long-term.  Neither do they encourage people to become more productive or offer them new opportunities which help them become less dependent on government aid.

The most conspicuous things in this Budget were the absent issues.  We have a country which is literally stuck in discussing the ever growing traffic problems with the consequential negative effects on the country’s productivity and the Budget just treats the issue superficially without any concrete plan on how to tackle this most important matter.

A strong economy is most welcome but it has to be supported by other important pillars such as a meaningful social direction, good quality of life for the people and good governance

This was a Budget which does nothing to diversify the current trends in our economy.  By default the government is showing that it is happy to have its economic growth entirely dependent on existent contributors, such as aviation, pharma and gaming.

This was highlighted by the leader of the Opposition in his reaction to the Budget when he insisted that the government should take urgent steps to rein in its excessive recurrent expenditure or else it risked having an unsustainable scenario.  This is a government that used the Budget as a political tool to address electoral issues which the Labour Party is facing with its traditional low-income voter.  It was a short-sighted, and populist exercise.  As Simon Busuttil aptly put it, this was a Budget of here and now, a series of immediate measures aimed more to serve Labour’s electoral needs, rather than addressing the national issues.

A strong economy is most welcome but it has to be supported by other important pillars such as a meaningful social direction, good quality of life for the people and good governance which is so topical these days.   It is useless boasting about a strong economy when people at the lower rungs of society are struggling to keep up with their minimum wage.

This country needs an economic vision which will help it expand its economy, and create new growth areas while generating jobs and wealth.  It is useless harping on economic successes then failing to indicate how you intend to sustain and enhance that growth.  The Opposition has in turn provided a list of measures which aim at sustaining and enhancing this growth; measures which are a result of a collective team effort, which strive on proving that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

What seems to be functioning today should not be taken lightly, or for granted that everything can work on automatic pilot.  There is still time to address these issues, however I am more than sceptical that we have a government that does care to listen.

Sam Abela is a notary and Nationalist Party candidate in the seventh district.

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