Last week, this paper, alone among its peers, dedicated ample space to the masterly presentation by Finance Minister Edward Scicluna at a pre-Budget consultation business breakfast.

In his presentation, Prof. Scicluna explained how the government had taken some bold decisions earlier in its term which seem to have gone counter to what was being suggested by the Commission and which led some stressed economies down the austerity path which made their situation, as experience has shown us, even worse.

The government felt that the supply side had been neglected for far too long and thus focused on the labour force, investment and energy.

Other countries were made to shed jobs, cut expenditure and squeeze deficits in an abrupt manner and as a result stalled their economies which developed into free-fall

The Maltese government came down heavily on long-time unemployed and, using a carrot and stick approach, cut down the number of LTUs by some 2,000, which is quite considerable in terms of Malta.

It then targeted investment which had been in decline for a number of years and tapped non-EU sources which seemed ready to invest in Malta.

It then tackled energy. For all questions and qualms when this was proposed, this seems to have worked on a number of levels - it reduced Enemalta's exposure, it kick-started a mini consumer boom and it at long last cut the dependency on fossil fuels.

This last item, energy, is still work in progress and while the situation as regards Enemalta's bottom line has improved through the use of the much-maligned BWSC plant and even more through the use of the Interconnector, meanwhile the price of oil has fallen to levels never envisaged and now not all cost reductions are being passed on to the consumer. As the minister explained, we are still paying for past sins.

However, when it comes to looking at the future, not all seems to add up. The minister revealed Malta will have to fork out €30 million more to the Community budget, as a result of Malta's success in the past years.

Strangely, the minister made no reference to Air Malta in his presentation, strange when one considers the space given to the airline in past Budget speeches.

Over and beyond the minister's presentation, one underlying worry is that for all words, we are still not seeing enough organic growth from the economy. The cut in electricity rates did kick-start a mini consumer boom but that's not self-sustaining.

This was, in part, confirmed by some of the audience who told the minister that the Cs and Ds in the country are still not feeling the boom and that retail, which is sustained by the Cs and the Ds, is not feeling the boom either.

The minister outlined two general directions for the Budget and beyond it. After the financial services boom and after the online gaming boom, the next target for Malta is to create educational and healthcare facilities which may attract residents from nearby stressed countries.

These two sectors then need more targeted investment so as to serve the Maltese public in general without leading the country to a wider deficit once again.

The coming Budget discussion will surely analyse these two general directions but meanwhile we feel the need to add a third direction - to unravel the knots that are keeping manufacturing and retail from organically growth.