TMID Editorial: Pulling wool over people\u2019s eyes<\/p>\n
There was a strange lack of coordination across the government in the last week – particularly between a press conference given by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana on Wednesday and a press conference given by Transport Minister Chris Bonett the day after.<\/p>\n
In his press conference, Caruana gave an update on Malta’s 2025 financial results, saying that economic projections show a year-on-year increase in both nominal and real GDP growth which is enough for the Maltese economy to register a surplus in either 2029 or 2030.<\/p>\n
When fielding questions from journalists, Caruana was asked by The Malta Independent<\/i> whether the economic projections that he had just presented took into consideration the significant expenditure that the government would need to make in order for the much-slated mass transport system to be built.<\/p>\n
Rarer have there been more straight to the point answers to a question posed by a journalist. Caruana simply replied: “No.”<\/p>\n
What begs the question here is that just over 24 hours later, on Thursday, Transport Minister Chris Bonett went on stage to unveil a 15-year transport plan called ‘Malta in Motion’, which includes the construction of a single, 24km metro line with a price tag of around €2.8 billion.<\/p>\n
This is a huge keynote project which the Prime Minister has said will be his government’s next major priority should it stay in power. Yet, the project does not feature in the government’s economic projections.<\/p>\n
There is a gap here – a contradiction even, and an attempt to pull the wool over people’s eyes. This process feels rushed.<\/p>\n
How can the government come out with its economic projections on one day, without including what the Prime Minister himself has said will be its keynote project – and then announce that same keynote project the next day and expect people to take either one seriously?<\/p>\n
The timing of the announcements is not to be dismissed either. The first inklings of a metro project were announced on the eve of the 2022 general election. Since then, the only progress has been another round of planning to come up with a downsized and less costly (but still quite costly) idea.<\/p>\n
Now, ostensibly on the eve of the next general election, the government unveils a new plan – once again with a metro line at its centre.<\/p>\n
Yet at the same time it unveils economic projections which do not take into account the expenditure on this enormous project into account. The government projects a surplus by 2029 or 2030 – but what about if it sinks €2.8 billion into this project which is meant to be a priority for them? What would the country’s economic projections then look like?<\/p>\n
We know that Finance Minister Clyde Caruana is not a particularly big fan on the idea – he has consistently poured cold water on it, once even saying that the country would be “royally screwed” if it gets the metro project wrong. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Caruana repeated this sentiment and said that budgets will be adjusted if the metro is to be included in the budget estimates for the coming five years. But with the Prime Minister repeatedly saying that this project is a priority, wouldn’t it be more just on the people to understand the full economic impacts of it from now?<\/p>\n
The discrepancy is a glaring one here, and with speculation on whether there will be an early general election or not now at fever pitch this situation has all the makings of a pre-election move.<\/p>\n