Happy New Year to all.

Holidays that had long weekends stuck to them are over; the eating, the drinking and the invitations are all gone, shelved for later on this year.

We must now be geared up for what is assumed to be a challenging year. If one goes by the media, it’s going to be much of a gloom and doom situation, where jobs are at risk, credits cannot be paid and sales are dipping. This scenario, actual as it is today, can change within a few days. As fast as it struck the world, the slowdown can be shortlived. This slowdown, and as sometimes I call it a financial war, could have its benefits. In a way, it could have cleared many people out of the way; the people that struck bogey deals, paper money going round in circles, until one of them drops the card.

It could have got a lot of others into sanity, putting their feet back on the ground. Mega thinking and worldwide ambitions may have been redesigned. Hopefully in Malta, we do continue on our usual ways of doing business; maybe a bit slower than we are used too, but in a calm atmosphere. Imported recession will have an effect on us, albeit minimal, but being as small as we are, the little, effects us in both ways. We do strike a balance in Malta, and that balance can shift. By having a busy year we are flooded with work, and probably grumble we are working too much. With a drop of some percentage points we grumble again, as its effects are drastic to us. There is no replacement catchment areas and sales for Malta.

Predictions on this year are as good as gambling. One cannot predict what the year will end up looking like. Luckily the worst months will be these two to three months, a winter season for Malta, where we do slow down anyway. It’s the following seven to nine months after winter that must be “normal” for us. There is where we make or break it. We must keep in mind that we must remain competitive in all our segments, use the strength of the euro against weaker currencies in our imports, and stop talking about recession in the way we are doing. Here maybe the media should help, and prop up the economic sectors via its articles.

A good sign was the amount of money collected on various programmes during the month of December, running into millions of euros. Besides the good deeds one does, the sheer amount does give a positive sign.

The euro and its introduction, a timely exercise, were vital. God forbid we took up the Labour Party’s suggestion to postpone the euro introduction. Again another advice badly conceived, and once again, a good decision by the Nationalist government.

The knack of the Nationalist government to come up with timely solutions is a consistent item during the years of PN governments. A look around non euro currencies will confirm this line of thinking.

Here tourism forms a great part of this equation, as so many people down the chain depend on tourism and the quality of tourism. Cruise liners are one thing, and the record numbers set this year are a yardstick to be maintained and improved. The good seven-day tourists are another, and again here, total tourist arrivals in 2008 are on a record high, notwithstanding the recent setbacks. The financial input that they bring is important. I am sure that the Malta Tourism Authority is already doing its outmost to contain, and eventually improve, this situation.

Imports seem to be important too, as the sterling exchange rate is very attractive at the moment, and shifts to that market can be of benefit to us. Hopefully that benefit will be passed on to the consumer.

One point of concern is the entry of irregular migrants in the winter months. It means that the immigrants are ready, pregnant women as is the custom too, to sail out whenever the sea is calm. Therefore unlike landings only in summer, we will soon be looking at whole year arrivals, a thing we cannot afford. The stance taken by the government and its hardened opinion is most welcome. We just cannot afford to keep such numbers.

Amid all this, we will look ahead into June, and will have both the elections for the European Parliament and local elections due this year too.

We would have spent 15 months off the campaign trail, which in itself is healthy ,and hopefully with the reform in the Local Council Act, these elections will be better spread out.

Well we seem to be heading for another interesting year, as it unfolds.

Robert Arrigo is a Nationalist MP