The management of the economic effects of the pandemic will enter a new phase today when the prime minister makes a statement about fresh fiscal measures the government will introduce to stimulate recovery.

We are living in extraordinary times when governments the world over are making extraordinary fiscal decisions that, up to some months ago, would have been unthinkable.

It is good that the wheels of economic decision making both at the local and the European Union level are turning much faster than most people are used to. The belief that governments could just push a button and the printing press would churn out as much money as is required to mitigate the pain of the crisis, such as the one we are experiencing, is fallacious.

But it is also not that uncommon. Businesses and individuals that are suffering the pain of the slowdown, as a result of the partial economic shutdown, have high expectations about what the government can do to restore normality in their lives.

The finance minister, however, knows all too well that in the real world he cannot ignore the realpolitik of public finances for too long. Undoubtedly, the Maltese economy needs yet another dose of fiscal stimulus to shorten the transition to economic normality and to save thousands of workers from an acute disruption in their lives if they were to be made redundant.

Businesses know this reality and are, understandably perhaps, using it to try to extract as many concessions from the government as they can.

Live for today and let tomorrow take care of itself is hardly a good strategy for any human activity let alone that of financial planning. Public debts incurred today will have to be paid by today’s and tomorrow’s generations.

We may be better positioned than some countries, like Italy, that have an almost unsurmountable public finances challenge. But complacency and lack of proper longer-term planning may put the country’s future prosperity at risk.

The stimulus measures to be announced today will seek to encourage consumption to kick-start economic activity at the local level. Such incentives are badly needed because it is now almost certain that the number of tourists visiting the islands over the next few months will fall quite a bit short of pre-pandemic expectations.

On their part, businesses need to do more to help themselves by revising their short-term sales strategies to encourage local consumption. Some are already doing this and they are more likely to weather the perfect storm that they are facing.

One of the big questions the government will be expected to answer is how the incentives will be financed. Loans and grants from the EU will help but they will come with conditions.

The sustainability compass will need to be calibrated to make sure that when the economic crisis is finally over, the taxpayer will not have to foot the full bill for supporting businesses.

Accumulated business profits and the private wealth that these generate for some should be among the first sources of finance for the costs of the fiscal rescue packages that the government is expected to launch.

The prime minister would do well to put the interests of the weakest at the very top of the government’s priority list. The weaker sectors of society are usually the ones that end up the worst off in any economic crisis. This is no longer acceptable.

The new financial package presents an excellent opportunity to promote real solidarity in our communities.