A national budget should never be treated as a shopping list. It should not be judged by how many new measures it contains.

A Budget is much more important than that. It is the moment when a government explains where the country is going, what it considers a priority and how it intends to use the resources available to it.

That is important this year. More than ever. 

Malta enters Budget 2027 with an economy that continues to grow, but also with public finances that require greater attention. The latest figures show government expenditure increasing faster than recurrent revenue, while public debt and debt-servicing costs continue to rise. They affect the choices government can make and the taxpayers who finance them.

This is why Budget 2027 cannot become a shopping list.

Every government has demands placed upon it. Families want help with the cost of living. Businesses want a competitive environment. Workers want better wages and opportunities. Young people want affordable housing. Older people want security. Communities want better roads, public transport and services.

All of these demands are legitimate. But government cannot promise everything to everyone without explaining how it will pay for it.

Public money does not come from nowhere. It comes from taxes, economic activity and, when government spends more than it receives, borrowing. Borrowing can have a legitimate role when it finances investment that strengthens the economy and creates value for the future. But borrowing to sustain ever-increasing recurrent expenditure is a different matter.

This distinction must be at the heart of Budget 2027.

Malta needs investment in infrastructure, education, skills, technology, energy security and productivity. These are the areas that can help create better jobs, stronger businesses and higher living standards. They can increase the country's capacity to generate wealth.

Recurrent expenditure must be examined carefully. Government should ask whether every programme, subsidy, contract and administrative cost is delivering the value expected from it.

This does not mean that every subsidy is wrong. Energy support, for example, has protected households and businesses from international price shocks. But a subsidy should be part of a strategy, not a substitute for one.

If government spends hundreds of millions protecting people from high energy prices, it must also explain how it will make the energy system more efficient, resilient and affordable in the long term. Otherwise, the taxpayer is repeatedly paying for the same problem instead of investing in a solution.

The same principle applies to economic growth. The economy may be expanding by around 3.7 per cent this year, with growth forecast at around 3.6 per cent next year. Those figures matter, but they cannot be the whole story.

We must ask what is driving that growth and whether it is improving the quality of life of people living in Malta.

Growth based on more construction, more traffic, more imported labour and greater government spending is not necessarily the same as growth based on higher productivity, innovation, better skills and higher-value employment.

The objective should not simply be to make the economy bigger. It should be to make it stronger. That requires a Budget with a clear economic direction.

The government should tell the country what it wants Malta to look like five or ten years from now. Which sectors do we want to grow? How will we increase productivity? How will we help Maltese businesses invest and compete? How will we reduce pressures created by population growth? How will we improve infrastructure and public services? How will we make it easier for young people to build a future here? These are Budget questions.

So is the question of public finances. A responsible Budget must explain not only what government will spend, but what it will not spend. It must identify projects that can be delayed, programmes that can be redesigned and expenditure that can be reduced. Difficult choices are part of governing.

For too long, political debate has sometimes focused on what government can give rather than on what the country can sustainably afford. That approach cannot continue indefinitely.

The Finance Minister has himself been warning that there is limited room for additional expenditure. If that is the reality facing government, then the Budget must be honest about it.

The answer cannot be to disguise difficult decisions behind optimistic announcements. Nor can it be to postpone the cost into the future through additional borrowing. The answer should be a clear set of priorities.

My position has been consistent: Malta needs sound public finances, productive investment and sustainable economic growth. We need to protect families while also protecting the country's future financial capacity.

A serious Budget should allow people to understand the choices being made. If more money is allocated to one priority, what is being given less priority? If a subsidy is extended, how will it be financed? If debt increases, what productive asset or long-term benefit is being created in return?

These questions are not obstacles to government. They are the basic questions of responsible government.

Budget 2027 is an opportunity to change the way we think about public spending. It should move us away from the idea that success means announcing more measures than the year before.

Success should mean that every euro of public money has a clear purpose.

The Budget cannot be a shopping list. It must be a roadmap. A true and honest one. It must show where Malta is going, how we will get there and how we will pay for the journey. Most importantly, it must leave the next generation with more opportunities, stronger public finances and a better country than the one we inherited. That is the standard against which Budget 2027 should be judged.

Dr Adrian Delia is Nationalist Shadow Minister for Finance