During the long, frustrating years spent in Opposition, I was a reluctant witness of Gozo's relegation to Malta's backwater, a mere holiday resort for a privileged few. I will never forget the spectacle of a large majority of Gozitans voting for the EU after being promised that Gozo would be designated as a region on its own and thus would be drowned in euros, like the manna showered on the Israelites during their 40-year sojourn in the desert. The promise predictably proved a hollow one; yet another illusion conjured up to steal Gozitan votes. My fellow islanders were once again cynically treated as electoral fodder; pawns in somebody else's chess game, and then forgotten.
Between 2004 and 2013, that is, during the first nine years after Malta's entry into the EU, not only did Gozo's economy not converge with that of Malta (if not with the rest of Europe), but the rate of its economic growth lagged behind that of Malta. Thus Gozo finished being worse off - compared with Malta - than before entry in the EU.
Labour promised to reverse Gozo's fortunes.
Over the past two years, the Gozitan economy first reached, and then surpassed, that of Malta. Let me be clear. We are not out of the woods yet. This excellent rate of growth must be sustained in the coming years if there is to be convergence between the economies of the two islands. But what is important is that what was fatalistically regarded by most as an inevitable downward trend has been reversed.
The National Statistics Office opened its first regional branch in Gozo a few months ago. Thus the state of the various sectors in Gozo - demography, employment, education, tourism and so on - need no longer be gleaned from national charts and graphs, but are compiled and published for the benefit of ordinary citizens, bureaucrats, and policy makers alike. The NSO has just published "Gozo in Figures 2015" giving an impartial and independent snapshot of Gozo as is. From this publication, it transpires that:
- In the final year of the last administration, Gozo's economic growth was 1.3 per cent. During the first full year of the present government, the rate of growth rose to 4.8 per cent - higher than the rate of growth in Malta which was 4.5 per cent.
Of particular interest is the growth in the following sectors:
- Commercial sector, hotels and restaurants - +six per cent
- Service industry and recreation - +seven per cent
- Agriculture and fisheries - +eight per cent
- Public administration, health and education - +eight per cent
- Industry - +10 per cent
- Informatics and communication - +20 per cent
As a result, there was an increase in the disposable income of the average Gozitan. During 2013 and 2014, the number of full-time Gozitan employees rose by 727 - or eight per cent. In Malta, the increase was six per cent. Correspondingly, in 2014 the unemployment rate decreased to 6.9 per cent from 7.1 per cent in 2012. The decrease was mainly among young people.
In 2013, the average income of a Gozitan family was €21,917. This means an increase of €1,300 from the previous year; or six per cent. Thus the gap between the average income of a Gozitan and that of the average Maltese family narrowed.
In 2012, 801 Gozitan students graduated from University; in the last academic year the number rose to 878. In Malta, eight per 1000 graduate from University; the rate of Gozitans is 10 every 1,000.
In Malta, six per 1,000 graduate from MCAST; there are seven Gozitans per 1,000. An improved MCAST campus has been set up in Gozo on the initiative of Evarist Bartolo, the Minister for Education and Employment. This is encouraging more Gozitan students to further their studies in this institution.
Although much more remains to be done, there is no doubt that Gozo is at last figuring well.
Dr Refalo is the Minister for Gozo