Profiling a little bit of paradise

The Minister for Gozo does not agree with the opinion indicated to The Sunday Times by her constituents that the government is not giving enough attention to the island's affairs. She suggests that such an impression might be due to her ministry's "low profile". Over the weekend she proceeded to up the profile, asserting that the administration was giving great importance to Calypso's little bit of paradise.

The minister reeled off a string of statistics to back her claim, made in reaction to a survey by The Sunday Times wherein four in five of Gozitans interviewed felt neglected. The minister's figures were a mini-economic survey of Gozo, as at end-2004. As has become the established practice they included a statement of deposits held in Gozo bank branches (Lm182 million).

When I see that breakdown I always wonder that the banks seem to give the government details that are not published elsewhere, not even by the Central Bank, to whom the financial institutions report their data. That does not suggest personal confidentiality is broken. But, along with the other data given by the minister, it calls up a query: Can we move on towards a segmentation of similar data by main towns and regions?

The National Statistics Office is beginning to take some regional perspective. Not, however, along such a clearly identifiable breakdown. Gozo is a unique region, being an island. Separate analysis is required, out of economic, social and political considerations, not just because we are part of the EU. Other clearly defined regions need to be similarly analysed. Social data broken down to a considerable geographic extent have been published. Not, however, to the extent that the Minister for Gozo gives financial and economic data in respect of her portfolio.

While suspending reticence to present an outline of Gozo's economic and financial profile, the minister overreached. She said the government's heavy investment in Gozo is mirrored in the economy's performance. "In fact, in the past six years (the value of) property sales in Gozo boomed, from Lm8.3million at end 1998 to Lm182 million in 2004".

Never mind that the minister takes liberties in attributing property deals to government influence, is it wise for the minister to step in that minefield? Who is buying property in Gozo, where the owner-occupied ratio is a remarkable four-in-five? What has happened to property values between 1998-2004? Are the minister and her government content with soaring property price inflation?

With most of the other data, the minister defended her patch well, as is her custom. Nevertheless, her premise - the public might have misunderstood the Gozo ministry's low profile - is not valid. Were it the case that the ministry was some blushing lily, higher employment levels, savings, property deals and whatever else should generate a feel good factor, rather the negative response recorded in the survey by this newspaper's sister.

The dissatisfaction expressed by those interviewed may be due to one or more of three reasons:

¤ the statistics are wrong (that is unlikely; probably they were painted with too broad a political brush);

¤ distribution of the goodies was uneven - relatively few or not enough benefited and/or

¤ there were negative factors offsetting the plusses detailed by the minister.

Telling the people you never had it so good has become a practice common to government spokesmen, not just to the Minister for Gozo. It is also a common practice for Maltese and Gozitans to grumble.

Nevertheless, the numbers being stressed by the government are not reflected by any recovery in sentiment. It remains generally down across the whole spectrum of society. Consumers feel prices are rising too fast. Businessmen say demand is not recovering. Entrepreneurs complain there are few new opportunities for investment. Property deals continue to be the main prop and prices cannot rise for ever, certainly not at the rate seen in recent years, even if one ignored the social implications were they to do so.

Gozo is not sinking. Nor is Malta burning. But the Maltese islands are not quite the little bit of paradise they used to be.