Once again, another budget speech is behind us, and the Minister of Finance has once again failed to provide the necessary vision and plans for a better Malta tomorrow.

We all know how the budget process has now become a major marketing opportunity for the government, which spends a pretty penny from the public coffers to justify its policies and actions. Unfortunately, year after year, it is increasingly clear that the budget has become nothing more than that - a marketing exercise and not much else.

The social partners were swift with their scathing reactions to a poor budget speech, which though lasted upward of two and a half hours, failed to provide the necessary direction, which the country so desperately needs.

The Chamber of Commerce pointed out how the budget, ironically had a lot of ideas how to continue to drive consumption, but did not address productivity, attractiveness or investment. For a budget which boasted the attractive tagline Pajjiż ta' Kwalità (A Country of Quality), this particular observation must have burned quite a bit. The Chamber went on to note that a budget ought to form part of a broader long-term outlook, something which completely missing from this year's speech.

Rightly so, the Chamber of SMEs noted how small businesses, our economy's backbone, and our politicians' favourite choice for photo ops, were completely conspicuous in their absence from the exercise! In fact, the Chamber of SMEs berated the government for ignoring all of its proposals, major of which better tax bands for Maltese businesses, in order to provide the semblance of a level playing field when compared to foreign-owned businesses.

Also missing from the budget speech was any mention of a new hospital in Gozo. Following the immense Vitals/Steward faux pa, one would assume that Government would be super careful to put our collective minds at rest on the subject, yet the subject was not even breached.

A great deal of uncomfortable subjects was left out, in fact, revealing a serious lack of ideas and vision from Government in areas that are in dire need of direction.

Government has failed to provide a clear vision of where it wants to take the country in the years to come. A great deal of lip service was piled on thick, on how they want to drive quality over quantity, but few concrete ideas were to be found in a very long budget speech.

Once again, Government fell short of mentioning what new economic sectors it intended to invest in, and nurture in the years to come. It is once again admitting that due to its lack of ideas and foresight, it is forced to rely on the big hits of the past, all of which were the brainchildren of past Nationalist administrations. Of course, we are very proud that the Financial Services, Aviation, Pharmaceutical, Gaming, and IT industries are still going strong, but we need fresh ideas which do not only rely on increased expenditure.

That is what a real budget for quality would look like. A plan that would create better paying jobs and give a better standard of living to our families, without them having to work multiple jobs to make ends meet.

Sadly, the budget was another missed opportunity to inspire and aspire. We need politicians who have the vision and the drive to take this country to the next level.

Alexander Mangion is Deputy Mayor of Attard