I am glad to start writing this weekly blog for The Malta Independent. I will be writing about politics, economics, social trends, culture, science, human interest stories, and anything that catches my attention.  I hope you will find it entertaining.  It will be my thing but inspired by my independent Think.

Lourdes blast 

Last Monday's blast at the Lourdes Fireworks factory came just after the general election result.  Thank God and Our Lady of Lourdes that there were no human deaths, though animal lovers bemoaned the loss of some sheep, rabbits, and birds.

When I heard the explosions, I asked myself whether Lourdes was angry or happy.  Probably both, seeing that Naxxar has two band clubs   ̶    as it happens, one blue and one red.  Trust the Maltese to mix politics with religion.  Having the best of both worlds is our specialty. 

Or was there, perhaps, a subliminal message in the blast?  Lourdes, which is a sanctuary so dear to the Maltese, is a symbol of healing and hope.  The name represents miraculous healing, renewal, and faith.   All three are needed in the wake of the election. 

Candidates will need to recover from four weeks of campaigning.  Those who lost will have plenty of time on their hands to sleep, relax and regain their strength.  There will be healing involved, especially for those who suffered wounds to their pride or their standing.  More than physical recovery, a considerable degree of mental recovery will be involved, as the losers ask themselves what they didn't get right or why voters did not buy their message.  

This election brought a good degree of renewal too.  There are several new faces, new ministers, new Opposition spokesmen, and new whips.  Change is good but it needs to be managed.  What is for sure is that the renewal cannot be limited to people playing musical chairs.  There is a sore need for renewal of policies, political practices, of creaky state institutions.  The Maltese economy, society, and population are changing at a rapid pace, but it often seems as if we don't have the tools to keep up with these changes.

And there's faith too.  For a start, one needs a lot of faith to trust that the hug number of promises made by politicians can be delivered.  It is not just a question of resources and commitment.  The world is becoming increasingly unpredictable and risky, and this means that the government will have its work cut out to deliver on its lengthy agenda. 

Wait a minute 

It appears that we need to revisit the meaning of this phrase. Waiting a minute is no longer something we can afford to do.  According to a study by the engineer Marco Cremona, every minute that Maltese drivers are spending on the road is costing them €67,000.  Cremona has done what is, probably, the most exhaustive study about the cost ff traffic congestion in Malta.

The cost is staggering: €1.13bn per annum, which is almost equivalent to the entire capital expenditure of the country last year.  The cost covers time spent driving, time  stuck in traffic congestion, and fuel, but excludes the cost of land used for parking, greenhouse gas emissions, the public health burden, road maintenance and upgrades, and the annual cost of importing vehicles.

The study comes hot on the heels of various electoral proposals by all parties on ways of tackling the growing toll that traffic is imposing on people and the country.   The issue was one of the hottest ones fuelling controversy during the electoral campaign.  Unfortunately, there was no consensus on the possible solutions.  Indeed, various competing visions were presented, and the public seems to be splitting according to the political divide in its assessment of them.

For sure, the traffic problem calls for a multi-faceted approach based on an integration of technology, infrastructure, and smart policies.  There is no one magic solution.  Building a mass rapid transit on its own will not do the trick.  On the contrary, there need to be multiple transit modes which are integrated into a seamless mobility platform to provide on-demand micro-transit.

As an economist, my single most important objection to most of the proposals is that they only address one element of the equation, that is supply.  That's what we have been doing for the last 20 years: build more roads, widen roads, and put in multi-level flyovers.  An enormous expenditure has left us exactly where we were a few years before.  It was entirely predictable.  We failed to learn the lessons from other countries.

Both the Government and the Opposition have ditched a basic equation of economics: that of demand and supply.  It is no use talking about supply unless one also talks about demand.  The visceral objection to transport pricing dooms the current crop of proposals to eventual failure.  So-called "incentives" will not do the trick, unless they are accompanied by some kind of pricing mechanism that disincentivises the total worship of the private car in Malta.

A few weeks ago, I wrote in this paper's Sunday sister about sin taxes.  I was referring to the success that governments all over the world have had in, for example, taxing the sin of smoking.  Smoking is a private habit that has significant public health repercussions, much like driving a private car.  Yet taxes on tobacco have been successful in discouraging smoking and achieving a better balance between a private habit and a public burden.

My appeal to the Government is to Think. 

Clyde's and Adrian's calculator

Sometimes, pictures say it all, better than a thousand words.  One such picture doing the rounds during the vote-counting process was that of Clyde Caruana and Adrian Delia holding a calculator in the Naxxar Counting Hall.  Both were having a good laugh about the reference to a calculator when, some days earlier, they were locked in some heated arguments

It was Delia who started it, when he told Caruana that the finance minister needed a calculator to add up the costings of the PL's proposed tax cuts.  Caruana reciprocated a few days later when he told Delia that it was him who needed a calculator to find out whether the public debt had increased by €1.0bn in one month, when the actual figure was nearer €400m. 

After the spat, the two politicians found time to share a picture of them holding the blasted calculator.  Of course, this was an invitation to social media content creators to come up with their own jokes and memes about the calculator.  One of them was that of a calculator abandoned on the floor of the counting hall.  Whether it was the same calculator as the one in Clyde's and Adrians' hands is not known.

The light-hearted moment was, however, a telling sign of increased maturity.  It was an election conducted by both parties mostly in a civilised manner, bar some heated exchanges which however remained well within the cut and thrust of normal politics.  Elsewhere in the media, the hard cores were however out for their usual ounce of blood, with insults, threats, and offensive comments.  If I were to criticise the parties on anything, it would be that I would have expected them to condemn such behaviour.

As for Clyde's and Adrian's calculator, I close with one of the many puns on calculators: "Calculators are like friends - they help you when things don't add up."

Disruption woes 

The World Bank recently warned that global supply chain pressures are rising again, returning to levels last seen during the height of the Covid pandemic disruptions.  This isn't good news for economies worldwide, particularly in Malta.   According to the Bank, shipping container capacity tied up due to delays and re-routings reached around 2.06 million TEUs in May, close to its previous peak of 2.16 million TEUs recorded in early 2022. The index focuses on large container vessels, capturing deviations in maritime transit times from historical norms, measured in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), the standard size of a shipping container.

Supply chain management has emerged as the dominant strategic priority, cited by 68% of trade professionals - nearly double the 35% who identified it as a top concern just one year ago.  "Supply chain reliability is back on the radar in a big way," noted the 2026 Thomson Reuters Global Trade Report the other day.

The immediate cause, of course, is the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz, but the other cause are the tariff wars breaking out from time to time.  President Trump's tariffs, and retaliatory tariffs by other countries, have created cascading effects across the globe.  The resulting cost increases were concentrated in imported raw materials and components, cutting manufacturing margins and export competitiveness. But the implications extend far beyond cost. 

Apart from the impact of such disruptions on economic activity and the consequent increase in production costs, supply chain disruptions tend to lead to consumer price increases.  Malta, which imports most of its necessities from other countries and relies mostly on surface shipping, is particularly at risk when supply chains come under strain.

What are we doing about them?  Simply subsidising importers and producers, not to mention consumers, is not sustainable.  We need to make greater use of AI and blockchain in chain management and supply chain visibility. The Thomson Reuters report says that there was a seven-fold increase in the use of such technology by respondents to its survey.  It is an area where Malta Enterprise should do more in its support to businesses.

Quote of the Week

"You can't have people in the buildings around here making decisions, making regulations, and keeping all the information on which they're basing their decision-making to themselves. That is elitist and that is anti-democratic." - Former EU Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, about the lack of transparency at the European Commission.