There are dips and dips.

Some food related. Some exotic. And some even spicier than that.

A quick look at Wikipedia will soon reveal that double dipping can range from the confectionery produced by Switzels Matlow, the practice of simultaneously holding multiple elected posts, the practice of selling a media item to a consumer multiple times via a special edition, the practice of using both a tanning bed and a sunless tanning method to achieve a very dark tan and a lifeline in the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in which a contestant takes two tries at a question.

Thanks to the recent UK parliamentary expenses scandal, the term double dipping was also used to refer to two MPs, generally a married couple who live together, both claiming expenses on the rent/mortgage expenses of the same home, while also applying where one MP claimed their original home on expenses, and the other claimed their London home on expenses.

There is no doubt that the double dip I have in mind today is the double dip recession, a recession shape used by most economists. Something which to be fair banks like HSBC Global – contrary to others – had long predicted.

When I was recently in the UK, the double dip issue popped up and down like a yo-yo. It still does in most English language media.

In Malta it does not seem to be such a problem for us since we have the exceptional gift of having apparently moved out of a recession that never was.

One might ask why am I daring to say so?

The reason being that although the PM some time back boasted that Malta was definitely out of a recession, I do not recall his having ever admitted that Malta actually was in recession.

For this reason one will have to take all domestic talk of a double dip like something happening in Neverland as if we were completely detached and far remote from it.

That is until we recently started hearing statements by a particular ‘leader’ of a business organisation who seems to have worked his way very much into the PN’s very good books after having run for the euro elections on their ticket.

It is not for me to go into the whole squabble as to why he was chosen by the government to represent employers in Brussels when he always admitted that his was a self-employed persons’ association and not an employers’ organisation.

Neither will I at this stage go into the merits of how his organisation is almost virtually claiming credit for the eco contribution LN linked to waste processing, when according to a parliamentary reply given to me by none other than the PM his waste packaging processing company did not even have a Mepa licence to operate until recently.

But certain statements on economic matters cannot be treated lightly or ignored completely.

While Lawrence Gonzi boasted that we have long moved out of recession, when analysing the figures of a survey on business confidence and business results, the DG of the GRTU was reported to have claimed that 61.2 per cent of businesses surveyed reported lower profits due to the recession while 24.4 per cent said their situation was unchanged.

Earlier on he also claimed that some 14.4 per cent of businesses managed to increase their profits despite the recession in the first half of this year!

If the results attribute certain outcomes to cost cutting, an increase in services and better products and investment, that is indeed good news.

And I am neither being ironical nor cynical.

The whole issue at stake is that according to media reports of what was stated when announcing the results of this survey, those businesses which reported lower profits mostly blamed the financial crisis and lower consumer spending.

That a number of companies still planned to invest more to increase the size of their business is a definite plus too.

It is interesting to note that when the budget was announced, a particular business organisation (guess which?) had intimated that consumers could take such an increase in their stride, we have now been told that to help the situation the government should reduce bureaucracy (agreed), taxes (an electoral promise) and the cost of energy (agreed too).

While the PM had gone on record boasting that we were long out of the recession, this survey implies that 20 per cent of the companies surveyed are completely out of the recession. This seems to suggest that many others are still not!

We even had a statement by the said organisation that these figures were significant considering the recession.

Which recession, may I ask, if the PM never admitted that it existed?

To blame the drop in sales on too much competition even from the internet is not exactly 21st century savvy thinking when I am sure that any free market oriented company or organisation would not even dream of sending the wrong protectionist signal through such a statement.

That almost 60 per cent had not attempted to raise funds for a new project in the past three years may not necessarily be linked to the complaint that access to finance was a pressure for micro and small business but irrespective of whether they were, are, or are not, it still is sufficiently indicative of the actual state of play, no matter how positive one might be about the future.

If a lack of a level playing field for bona fide businessmen does exist – which I do not doubt – then one should ask what is government really doing to address this issue?

While everyone in his or her right senses would augur that Malta will move out of recession shortly, if our growth continues to stall, this can only jeopardise hopes of a sustained recovery.

Elsewhere the gloom is compounded by warnings from leading retailers that consumer spending is cooling off after a strong start to the year amid uncertainty about the economic outlook.

It is high time that government spoke clearly on these issues.

Were we ever in recession or not?

If we never were, what sense did it make to pronounce ourselves as having moved out of it?

Could it be that after moving out of recession we could be sliding back into the thick of a new recession or else still heading towards one?

If on the other hand we are on the road to recovery let us hope that it will be a well sustained one and not one built on fragility.

Even worse let us hope that none of us will be fed any more hype as government tries to create a false sense of security through jazzed up feel good factors that are often created by long thought out statements and judiciously placed photo ops that rather than being the result of economic forces are plots hatched by spin doctors sitting comfortably at the OPM in Castille.

10-10-10

The news that SmartCity will be launched officially on 10 October 2010 is indeed good news.

What needs further probing if the project is really on track are the following two observations:

a) the claim by a sister publication of the Independent that forceful sales tactics are being used to pressure local ICT companies operating in Malta into relocating to SmartCity as what is being perceived as a desperate bid to have at least a few tenants when the first block will be inaugurated in two months’ time

b) the fact that the Minister for ICT had to personally undertake road shows abroad as far away as China to promote a project that we were initially given to understand would have flooded us with investment from the original backers and promoters of the said venture.

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www.leobrincat.com

Leo Brincat is the Shadow Minister for the Environment, Sustainable Development & Climate Change.