Managing success or understanding the risks?
There are different ways to look at our country’s present state and thus to plan ahead.
When he introduced the coming year’s Budget, Minister Edward Scicluna spoke of ‘managing success’ so that the past momentum can be sustained and the country plans ahead.
Scicluna said that the country is at a stage where it has attained economic success compared to its peers in the European Union, but now must face questions on issues which had, as such, always been there but had until recently been concealed by greater ones.
In this sense, he said, the government has entered a new phase where it must manage its success. He said that there is momentum in the economy, and that everyone wants it to last as long as possible. He noted that that it should be “straightforward” to sustain this momentum if level-headedness and proper planning is employed in policymaking and budgeting.
The pre-budget document was presented by Scicluna the previous week, with the theme being ‘Sustaining Inclusive Growth’. Announcing the document, Scicluna had said that special focus will be given to the elderly and to healthcare, while also noting that economic prosperity allows the government to continue to commit to policies that ensure greater social justice.
But as has been noted, Professor Scicluna measures 'success' in terms of numbers, GDP and all that. The cost is deterioration in the quality of life for the weakest members of our society. Overpopulation is deliberately aimed as a means of increasing GNP without proper regard to planning and irrespective of its negative impact on the welfare of the population in real non-economic terms.
Malta’s overall labour participation rate had, at 74.2%, exceeded the European Union average, which stands at 73.7%, for the first time.
Though the female participation rate is still below the EU average rate, it has increased from 48.9% in 2012 to 63.1% in 2018 and continues to rise. Malta’s male participation rate meanwhile exceeds the corresponding EU average by 5.3%.
Similar patterns were seen in terms of real labour productivity - productivity per hour has increased to a level which is above the EU average, in turn allowing for wages to increase without a subsequent loss of competitiveness.
On the other hand, the minister also mentioned the 19% of the population are still at the risk of poverty, almost describing this as a slight hitch that can easily be solved. But he was reminded by Renee Laiviera, head of the Commission for Equality, that these people still needed help and they
Malta’s overall labour participation rate had, at 74.2%, exceeded the European Union average, which stands at 73.7%, for the first time. Though the female participation rate is still below the EU average rate, it has increased from 48.9% in 2012 to 63.1% in 2018 and continues to rise. Malta’s male participation rate meanwhile exceeds the corresponding EU average by 5.3%.
came mostly from minorities such as migrants and migrant women specifically.
It is not a question of tinkering with this or that thing that’s going wrong but understanding the real direction that our economy has taken and where it will lead us. It just cannot be that our economy is destined to grow and grow without making the fundamental changes that would be required. Like a tree that unless pruned and stabilised will grow and grow all over the place.
There was a sense, last week, shared by many of the speakers, that things have to change. We just cannot go on with more and more people streaming in, with more and more apartments being built (let alone with more and more land being gobbled up by an insatiable developer-led country) and with more and more people falling in the poverty trap.
What is required is not managing success but rather bringing a runaway horse under control before it crashes and us with it. That’s quite hard to do and no wonder that talk has again surfaced about the prime minister calling it a day.
But we, who may still be around, will not have such an easy exit. We will have to pick up the pieces and bring the runaway horse under control again.
The success the minister was talking about was produced to a certain extent by giving most economic forces total and unbridled freedom. It will be difficult to stop people from hurting themselves and others.