There exists no precedent for the sustained economic growth that the island is experiencing – both by way of the magnitude and the long period of time over which growth has prevailed.

Not all the consequences are pleasant, as with the increase of rent charges, the environmental damage and the flagrant abuses in the construction sector, among others.

We still need to understand correctly the impact of other effects, as in the case of foreign workers already here and the many others we will need to import. It is not the first time in the history of Malta that economic momentum gathered in line with the presence of foreigners, which is what used to happen under the Knights of St John or during British rule. But it is the first time that this is happening according to neoliberal, free market “rules”.

I doubt whether it makes sense to allow effects and consequences, good and bad, to proceed till they reach the right balance according to these same “rules”. It would be better if a continuous and critical study is carried out of ongoing economic and social developments and if plans are laid out by which further developments can be guided according to the interests overall of the Maltese community.

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Investment incentives

Many of the inward “investments” we highlight are of a temporary nature. They consist of funds which camp here for a while and can easily just leave. One of the successes of the island in recent times was to have yearin, year out, attracted significantly much more inward than there were outward flows of funds.

To be sure, other investments arrived, of a “direct” nature, by which entrepreneurs set up a factory or a hotel and employed people to run them. These investments are more desirable since after having becoming installed here, it would be difficult to just leave (unless projects get transformed into apartments, as happened with Smart City, one of the most disastrous projects ever approved by a Maltese government).

In the context of a small island like ours, finding direct investments which will arrive on their own steam is quite a hopeless proposition. Over the years, we needed to create incentives that could induce entrepreneurs to clinch an investment proposal. It would be a good idea to carry out an evaluation of industrial and other incentives that have been applied up to now in this sense. 

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European dilemmas

Will steps be taken shortly to complete banking union within the euro zone, as European Central Bank governor Mario Draghi again insisted recently?

Will a European Monetary Fund be set up to replace the Stability Mechanism which already exists, also within the euro zone?

Are the Brexit negotiations leading to a satisfactory conclusion?

How and to what extent should funds earmarked for agricultural and cohesion projects be cut in the EU budgets for the years 2020 to 2027?

Can a clear and tight agreement be arrived at between EU member states regarding how to share out fairly between them the burdens of immigration?

How shall it be ensured that European “values” are respected everywhere in Europe?

These are some of the dilemmas that at present face the European Union.