Last week, Minister of Finance Edward Scicluna called a press conference to point out so-called mistakes in the PN document “Sustainable Growth and Dignity for All”. Ironically, as the following explanations will show, it was Minister Scicluna who made some serious mistakes during the press conference, the Nationalist Party said in a statement.

The Sub-Title of the Document

According to Minister Scicluna, the sub-title of the document should have read “Pre-Budget Proposals 2016” rather than “Pre-Budget Proposals 2015”. 

Had Minister Scicluna carried out a quick search on the internet he would have noticed that a report containing reactions to a Pre-budget document can carry in its title a reference to the year in which it was written. For instance, in 2014 the Canadian Real Estate Association gave its reactions to the government's pre-budget document. The Association presented its reactions in a document entitled “2014 Pre-Budget Consultation - The Canadian Real Estate Association’s Priorities for the 2015 Federal Budget” (http://crea.ca/sites/default/files/pre-budget_submission.pdf). This approach was used by the Nationalist Party when presenting its report. 

Data Missing in Table 12

According to The Malta Independent, Minister Scicluna said that “one such error was on Table 12, which is titled Average Gross Annual Salary by sector. He mentioned that the Wholesale and Retail sector, which is listed in the table, has no statistics listed under it.” 

Minister Scicluna is wrong. There is no missing data in Table 12. Minister Scicluna, who is a Professor of Economics, the Minister for Finance and also the Minister responsible for the National Statistics Office should have picked up that there is a comma not full-stop after the words “Wholesale and Retail”. The comma is there because Wholesale and Retail are grouped together with Accommodation and Food Services as one whole cluster. The data given for Food and Accommodation services covers also Wholesale and Retail.

Female Participation Rate for 2015 not included in Table 13

During the press conference, Minister Scicluna reportedly said that he failed to understand why the Female Participation rate for 2015 was not shown in Table 13 of the Nationalist Party's document. 

Table 13 shows how female participation in the labour market increased between 2005 and 2014. The reason why data for 2015 was not included is very simple: 2015 is not yet over.  In this case it made no sense to compare full year data with partial-year data, since the Table is looking at yearly trends. This is again an elementary mistake from the Minister who should know and probably knows better. 

Data for Exports (Net of Fuel) for 2015 left out in Table 5

The Minister also reportedly said that “for some reason... (the report) left out the increases in exports (net of fuel) in their international trade table”. 

Table 5 shows the annual value of imports and exports between 2008 and 2014. Again it would have made absolutely no sense to include partial information for 2015 in a table which lists full-year data. 

Rather than chasing shadows, the Minister should focus his energy on identifying measures to help reverse the negative trend in exports. Total exports in 2013 and 2014 declined by €721 million and exports net of fuel in the same period went down by €318 million. 

 

The Opposition's Fixation on Government Expenditure

During the same press conference, the Minister said that he could not understand the Opposition's fixation with the increase in government expenditure given that the deficit is being kept under control.

 

The Opposition refers the Minister to Table 3 which shows that in 2015, the deficit was kept in check largely due to two one-off events and not because of structural improvements. Were it not for these two extraordinary events, the deficit this year would have been at par with last year's high deficit. The Minister of Finance is responsible for ensuring that the tax payers' money is put to good use. The increase in government expenditure is being fuelled by the rampant increase in the public sector employment. The additional personnel have not resulted in any tangible benefits to the taxpayer. Judging by what is happening in the Lands Department, the Police Force, Identity Malta, MEPA and other agencies, the increased expenditure, rather than producing benefits, improving competitiveness, alleviating poverty and protecting our environment, is resulting in squandering of public funds in the form of jobs for the boys and questionable deals that favour the few over the interests of the nation.

 

The Opposition is dismayed by the Minister of Finance's reaction which can best be described as a comedy of errors. The Minister in a press conference called to pinpoint mistakes by the Opposition managed only to make a series of errors that reflect badly on him and his Ministry. The Minister failed to answer any one of the pertinent questions included in the document. He failed to answer the pertinent questions asked by the journalists present for the press conference. He failed to comment on the proposals contained in the document, proposals aimed at improving the lives of all, not least those living in poverty and in risk of poverty.

 

Muscat is isolated in his reaction to the Nationalist Party’s document

 

In his Sunday morning interview, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yet again saw it fit to deride the Opposition's initiative to publish a document containing the Opposition's reactions to Government's pre-budget document. The Prime Minister's statements jar with the position taken by the social partners who, during a meeting of the MCESD on Friday, unanimously praised the Nationalist Party's initiative.