Budget 2011 is expected in Parliament towards the end of this month. The Finance Minister is at this stage holding back to back meetings with different stakeholders as the Budget has over the past years become the end result of an open consultation process.

Gone are the days where the Budget is shrouded in mystery until it is announced and where any person involved in its preparation is treated like a hostage under heavy guard lest any information leaks out before the minister commences his speech. Gone are the days when we need to wait for the Budget to figure out how generous or otherwise has the government been towards the workers by announcing some cost of living increase that is determined solely out of the bounty of the ruler’s heart or if the government decides otherwise for how long would we have to endure a wage freeze! Gone are the days when we wait for the Budget to discover what might the price of a tuna can be like!

The cost of living increase is established according to a precise formula that has been established together with all the stakeholders. That explains why it has become so easy to work out the increase well in advance of the minister’s speech. This process is in its own right contributing towards the sense of stability that is welcomed by investors looking at business opportunities in our country.

What can we expect from the Budget for next year? The most important expectation was and remains charting out policies and initiatives that safeguard employment and generate new jobs.

Malta has been doing well for itself as a result of having a judicious government in office. Our unemployment is at a manageable level even if we wish to have not one person genuinely registering for work. More needs to be done in particular to increase the participation rate by women amongst the gainfully occupied, not only because more women rightly seek fulfilment through a meaningful career and need to have opportunities that allow them to do just that, but also because this has become one of the only ways how to make our economy expand further in the national interest. Another issue is dealing with cases of chronic unemployment, where persons especially of a certain age remain unable to find adequate employment and as a result suffer unduly along with their families.

As the country safeguards and creates jobs, Malta needs to remain competitive. We have only recently placed well in this regard in the index published by the World Economic Forum. By definition, competitiveness cannot ever be taken for granted not only because one needs to address those issues that call for improvement, but also because one needs to examine how other countries are seeking to move ahead.

We have been doing well for ourselves because we have had the courage to carry out one reform after another wherever needed. We have not shied away from addressing the pensions’ issue or transport to give but two examples that are still causing other countries much headaches and disquiet. Equally we have addressed the drydocks haemorrhage once and for all. There are still areas that require the same determination coupled with a judicious approach. Sectors such as Enemalta and Air Malta are crying out loud for a reform that while recognising their importance makes them more effective and efficient. Another issue that needs to be addressed is bureaucracy. We have heard over and over again even at the European level that a red carpet needs to take over from red tape, in particular to offer a boost in favour of small and medium sized enterprise that is the backbone of our economy.

In the meantime, works on national projects are evident for all to see – be it the entrance to our capital city or providing the country with an adequate roads’ infrastructure. The Budget, one would expect, will refer to progress achieved and secure the resources required for such projects and others to maintain the momentum that is being registered.

Ultimately a Budget is not so much a shopping or wish list as it is providing the appropriate balance between what a country requires and what it affords, between what we need to spend money on, and where we can make the money to spend it in the first place. Not unlike what on a micro level we have to do as individuals or as families.

I wish the Finance Minister well in striking the right balance that the country deserves to move further ahead following Budget 2011.

Dr Francis Zammit Dimech is a Nationalist MP