A budget born of political expediency cannot ever be grounded in present day realities
By the same criteria, a budget that has electoral targets and objectives in sight and in mind, in the final analysis will prove to be detached from all the uncertainties developing right now on the European continent and beyond, by focusing on the purely local, insular and parochial concerns of a government that simply wants to get re-elected at all costs.
Even though it might have ostensibly set out to promote economic growth and stability while consolidating public finances without creating any economic shocks, in actual fact Budget 2012 is most likely expected to do the right opposite.
Showing complete disregard for our deficit and even worse for our burgeoning national debt – with the latter hardly getting more than a single mention in the whole document – the budget reminded me of one of those CD albums that are packaged with glitz but hollow at the centre without any punch, soul or grit.
Rather than the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, in this particular case the sum of the parts when compounded together failed to provide a satisfying whole – for the simple reason that they did not jell together.
Pushed forward by so much political short-termism the budget document badly lacked medium- to long-term planning that could possibly help see us through these admittedly difficult times.
It failed miserably in distinguishing between uncertainties created by the international scene as constantly evolving, and the home-grown problems and self-inflicted wounds that are a direct consequence of government’s mismanagement and botched attempts to try and get its act together, albeit so much late in the day.
No wonder that in spite of the catchpenny attractions of certain measures so evidently pitched in the direction of segments of Maltese society that were long identified in the past with the PN and that might have in more recent years tended to drift apart or aside, the budget was in the words of the Malta Employers’ Association not only a business as usual budget but also one that does not propose any bold actions that really address the country’s underlying challenges.
In my opinion, the budget’s political opportunism was given away by the fact that rather than going for a more focused approach to try and prioritise its aims and objectives, it did its best to stretch its expenditure – possibly beyond its own present day real constraints – in such a manner that it could be seen to reach out and hit the widest range of targets possible, mainly of the political type and kind.
In the past, the Opposition might have been accused rightly or wrongly of creating uncertainty by speculating on prospective and possible election dates.
We are presently living in such a surreal world on this little island called Malta that this time round the right opposite is happening.
The country has been virtually in an election mode as a result of the manner in which Lawrence Gonzi raised the political temperature since Independence Day – ironically the day which Nationalist activists have been aspiring in their heart of hearts to see established as the sole national day of the Republic of Malta.
Since then, the political momentum has continued to gain ground until it peaked on budget day and beyond.
I say beyond, because when replying to questions on Bondi+, the Prime Minister added more uncertainty to the whole messy situation by deliberately refraining from ruling out early elections at some point in time during the New Year.
My guess is that the PN will only start pencilling in specific dates and timeframes once the budget measures kick in and by when they aspire to be in a position to take stock of the extent of any political gains they might potentially make in the process.
In spite of the mock aura of stability that the Finance Minister has set out to project in his carefully worded budget speech, the budget risks falling apart as a result of its own forecasts. Rather than sending a message of reassurance it raised and created many new doubts.
So much so that at the end of the day it runs the risk of making the Maltese electorate feel even more sceptical while leaving the European Commission in greater doubt as to the real state of play on the Maltese islands. Way beyond the NSO figures.
To cite only one glaring example – how can one take seriously government’s over optimistic expected recurrent revenue increases, which by any standard are far too generous and hefty, even more so when compared and contrasted with the downward revision budgetary figures were subjected to during this financial year that is by now nearing its end?
This once again is in my opinion the net result and risk generated by the political expediency of a budget that is neither growth driven or export and or investment led in its objectives.
One cannot expect better from a blitz skillfully crafted in political glitz to try and bring back on board those who may have drifted away from the PN in recent years.
From what I have been told, many of the budget decisions might have been taken, if not in conjunction, at least in direct consultation with the Nationalist Party’s core strategy group.
It was this evident streak that has led many discerning voters to begin to question whether this could indeed be the last budget before we actually go to the polls.
Any budget inspired by such political short termism instantly exposes the façade of prudence and economic direction as a mock façade.
The budget might have divided opinion among Malta’s leading economists but I quite agree with that political analyst who concluded that Fenech’s rather rosy projections for economic growth – without having done anything to fuel or foster it – may be optimistic against the backdrop of a worsening international scenario.
The PN has been following every move of the PL to such an extent that in the wake of the budget they even felt compelled to literally copy the PL’s call for “għaqal” by cloning it and adding it to their own official reaction to the budget.
One can only imagine how the PN would try to plagiarise every single proposal that the PL might come forward with well ahead of the elections to sweep the carpet from under the PL’s feet, the same way that political parties elsewhere have often done in a bid to regain lost ground or else to regenerate and or reinvent themselves.
As someone recently put it, what has been sold as a family budget in actual fact showed that it put the party rather than the family on top of the real agenda!
No wonder that there is so much distrust at present within Nationalist Parliamentary Group circles, that the same way that former Minister Jesmond Mugliett was notified by Lawrence Gonzi by an SMS on his Blackberry that he was being left out of the 2008 Cabinet, this time round the PN parliamentary group was reported to have been kept in the dark about the so-called tax benefits for parents during a specifically called meeting in which the Finance Minister is reported to have spelt out a number of other budget details.
The Nationalists might be trying to instill in us the John Donne feeling that no man is an island, entire of itself. So much I agree with, even though they are doing it mainly to try and make us forget the economic and financial mismanagement of our economy and parastatal entities that is in no way related to the international scene.
But at day’s end, I suspect that they are likely to find themselves drawing on another John Donne quote which runs as follows:
“Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.”
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Leo Brincat is the Shadow Minister for the Environment, Sustainable Development & Climate Change