Judging by what small businesses have reported, it is clear that they have already started feeling the pinch of the financial crisis that has gripped the world in recent months. More problematic is the fact that they believe that the year that is about to start will be even more difficult than the last half of this one.

In fact, a business performance survey conducted by the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises, the GRTU, found that three quarters of the respondents said that their profits in the last six months went down by between 10 and 30 per cent when compared to the previous period last year, while 71 per cent think that 2009 will be even worse.

Shop owners have also complained with various media that their sales for Christmas have not picked up as much as they would like to. And, if people are buying, they are not spending as much as they used to. In most cases, show owners reported that people are so far window shopping and seem to be looking around to find cheaper items before they make up their mind. The shop owners are hoping that in this last week before Christmas the sales will pick up.

No one can really blame consumers from saving up or spending less at a time like this. The level of uncertainty that has gripped the island has reached high levels, and people have become more cautious in the way they are using their money. We may not have been hit directly by the international problems, but we are feeling the effects anyway.

But there is also another reason why people are not spending much, leading to a slowdown of the economy.

The main problem in this regard is that the utility bills question has not been resolved yet. And, while on the one hand, the idea to postpone the sending out of bills until after Christmas could be of help to generate business, on the other hand, the fact that people are still to receive their first bill and therefore do not actually know how much they will be paying on rates that will be backdated to 1 October is putting people off.

Secondly, the government’s persistence in raising the water and electricity tariffs at a time when the price of oil in the international markets has stabilised itself at one third of the price that was being paid in summer is not going down well with the public at large. Calls from the Labour end and other quarters for the government to leave more money in people’s pockets so as to generate more business have so far fallen on deaf ears.

And this is what is leading to so much uncertainty. People are asking – how much will I have to pay for the water and electricity I used since October? Will I have to pay all my dues in bulk? Do I have enough money saved up to pay my energy bills? Or will I have to take a bank loan? When will the matter be solved?

No amount of explanation will be enough for people to make their calculations. It is when they will receive the first bill that they will know how hard they have been hit.

Such a situation is not helping a regeneration of the economy. At a time when governments across the world, including in Europe, are doing their best to keep the economic wheel in motion by encouraging the people to spend more, here it seems that the government is telling the people to save up to be able to pay for the water and electricity bills that will arrive some time after 1 January.