According to the Employment and Training Corporation, August’s unemployment rate increased again by 8.9 per cent, while Part 1 (people looking for a job and without one) increased by a staggering 12.6 per cent, or 781 persons. Not surprisingly, the more recent GDP statistics of the second quarter of 2013 showed that investment decreased, with real imports and exports declining by 14.8 per cent and eight per cent respectively.
For all the talk of giving a boost to the construction sector, this too experienced a decrease in activity. Household expenditure also fell. The only compensation was increased government expenditure.
The Minister of Finance doesn’t seem to be at all concerned with these results, while the Minister for the Economy doesn’t seem to have returned from his long summer holidays.
In the meantime, month after month, under this Government unemployment is rising and nobody seems to act. We have heard about the need for economic stability, childcare and the creation of 70,000 jobs, however, during the election campaign, the present Prime Minister would not even commit himself to creating at least 25,000 new jobs in five years.
This Government has been shouting ‘breakthrough’ with every memorandum of understanding we sign, such as with Libya and China. However, when you read these documents you learn very little of what was really agreed to, if anything was really agreed to, other than the commitment to hold further discussions.
The fuel agreement with Libya depends on the country’s fuel output reaching full production levels. With the country still divided and with little light at the end of the tunnel, this could be difficult. When should we expect the first consignment of fuel and at what price? There are no answers in sight.
Then there is the China agreement, which I must say is a great deal for the Chinese, a 20 to 35 per cent stake for what seems to be €200 million. I would love to see the valuation of the corporation published.
Initially, Government sources had leaked a 20 per cent shareholding figure, but parliamentary secretary Edward Zammit Lewis let the cat out of the bag during a radio programme when he said the figure was 35 per cent.
That is not a minority holding as we were led to believe after the signing ceremony. Twenty to thirty-five per cent is a significant shareholder figure, and is a far cry from what Labour said before the election, namely that they would not privatise Enemalta.
As for the belief that the Chinese signed the agreement as a sign of goodwill and simply to help Enemalta reduce its debt, Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi said in an interview with The Sunday Times of Malta that in the next six months, Enemalta has to convince the Chinese that it has a plan to turn the company into a profitable entity, as these people will want a return on their investment.
Who will pay for this return on investment for the Chinese? Will it be Maltese consumers through their water and electricity rates? Or will it come about through a restructuring exercise to reduce the corporation’s payroll, which will probably not be enough? Can the minister please explain?
If Mizzi thinks that some of Enemalta’s board members will be able to impose the control of this Government by forcing every issue to a vote, against all commercial logic, he may be in for some unpleasant surprises.
The Minister of Finance doesn’t seem to be at all concerned with these results
There is nothing in this agreement about jobs. The Chinese want to use Malta to penetrate the European market and I understand the Chinese interest in this venture. The question is what jobs will be created for the Maltese?
I ask the question because this Government knows well enough that previous enterprises and manufacturing concerns operated by the Chinese did not create jobs for the Maltese. Instead, a number of Chinese nationals were brought over as they too understandably want to create jobs for their people. But who is going to generate jobs for the Maltese?
Private sector investors – and not national or foreign public corporations, which have very different objectives – can create jobs. The Maltese private sector has heard very little from this Government in terms of what impetus it intends giving it to generate new jobs. Malta Enterprise seems more interested in creating jobs for the new clique, with the appointment of a new executive chairman and a minister’s wife becoming its envoy to China.
This country desperately needs a job creation strategy. It needs to come up with some new ideas how to incentivise and attract investment to Malta, and how to give new a new momentum to small and medium-sized enterprises, industry and tourism.
It also has to consider channelling more funds, both EU and national, towards programmes that support new and growing businesses and job creation.
We just hope this Government will not miss this opportunity in the forthcoming Budget.
Tonio Fenech is Nationalist spokesman for finance.