The socio-economic expenditure in the forthcoming Budget is expected to reach about Lm500 million / EUR1.16 billion, Parliamentary Secretary in the Finance Ministry Tonio Fenech said yesterday.
Mr Fenech was speaking at the first in another series of public discussions leading to Budget Day, which is expected to fall some time at the beginning of October.
Following a series of public consultation meetings that led to the publication of the pre-Budget document entitled “Families Growing Stronger”, the government decided to organise a second series of discussions, the first of which focused mainly on participation of women in the workforce, pensions, social inclusion of people with disabilities and the education system.
Mr Fenech gave a brief overview of the contents of the chapter in the pre-Budget document that focuses on the government’s socio-economic strategy, which had been designed to cover the years 2005-2010.
He said the government believed it was important to invest in areas related to the country’s social development, which was directly related to economic development.
The parliamentary secretary mentioned the education system and said the government was not only investing in infrastructure, but also in an improved education system.
Reacting to a question from a member of the audience regarding participation of women in the workforce, Mr Fenech said the government still wants to tackle a number of aspects related to this issue.
He mentioned, for example, the fact that while the idea of childcare centres in schools was mentioned in the pre-Budget document, this concept still needed to be developed further.
“You have to remember that such projects would be expensive to run, particularly when you consider the high ratio of carers who would have to tend to the children,” said Mr Fenech.
He said the government was also exploring ways of improving the system of social benefits like children’s allowance.
Asked by a member of the audience what the government intended to do to provide opportunities for better inclusion of disabled people, particularly in the post-secondary education system, Mr Fenech said the government’s aim was to create a situation of social inclusion at every level.
He spoke about the fact that the government hoped to be able to invest in certain IT equipment required by people with specific disabilities, which would allow them to integrate better in the world of work.
Speaking about pensions, Mr Fenech said the way the system developed over the years provided for a number of anomalies, particularly in 1979 when the concept of occupational pensions was removed and a national “pay-as-you-go” pension was introduced.
This system created a situation whereby social security contributions would not go towards one’s own pension, but rather towards the current generation of pensioners. The two-thirds pension, on the other hand, created a pensions bill that generated deficit from one year to the next, said Mr Fenech, adding that the government was looking into the various anomalies that came about over the years.
However, it was important to address the issue in a consistent, just manner, said Mr Fenech in reply to a specific question regarding the pension received by those who were employed by the British.
“When the 1996-1998 government tried addressing this issue, they had to stop short because it was clear that they would have to discriminate against other pensioners,” said Mr Fenech.
Those seeking information on Budget 2008 may contact the Finance Ministry on tel. 2599-8285 or by email to [email protected]. A soft copy of the pre-Budget document may be found at www.mfin.gov.mt.