The last couple of years have been tough. There’s no doubt about that. And they’ve been tough across the globe. The impact of the global pandemic on the world’s economy was difficult to predict and two years down the line continues to haunt us.

Just when we thought it was safe to go back into the water, the Russian invasion of Ukraine threatens our much prayed for economic recovery as inflation rears its ugly head and the cost-of-living shoots through the roof.

Obviously, Malta has not been spared the difficulties brought about by COVID-19. Our all-important tourism industry, which for so many years has helped build, strengthen and sustain our economy, came to a total and almost immediate halt.

Our airport came to a standstill with aircraft gathering dust and, as everyone knows, a plane that doesn’t fly doesn’t earn any money.

The struggling Air Malta continued to cling on to life and had to take some difficult decisions to simply try and keep afloat.

Hotels, some of which had been upgraded, stopped receiving guests and paying dividends and simply closed their doors. Foreign workers left the island in their thousands as the economy came to an almost standstill and the bottom fell out of the rental market leaving property owners high and dry.

The Nationalist opposition has been consistent in its support for economic assistance to individuals and businesses. We always placed an individual’s well-being ahead of economic gain and pressed for financial support to be given to businesses.

Among other things, we constantly pushed for financial institutions to put profit aside and provide assistance to anyone who found it difficult to keep up with repayment schedules.

We did also speak against putting economic recovery before the country’s medical well-being and were proven right when hastily taken decisions to reopen our borders too quickly had to be rolled back just as quickly as they were implemented.

When the time was right to start rolling back restrictions, the government finally listened to the voice of reason led by the Nationalist Party. We are more than pleased to see that, with good sense finally prevailing, tourism is back on the upturn, the airport seems to be returning to the busy schedule we have been accustomed to, bars and restaurants seem to be doing very well and life has started taking a turn for the better. That’s great news for us as individuals, businesses and as a nation.

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana has admitted that the blockchain island dream has failed. This was nothing but a buzzword.

We need to work harder, together, as seeking to generate new economic niches is imperative at this point in time. The government must ensure that new niches of the economy are tapped into and generated to ensure a better quality of life, also in view of the challenges being encountered vis-à-vis our tax regime.

More so, having the highest deficit in the EU, corresponding to eight per cent of the gross domestic product, the government must ascertain that Malta’s public finances are used appropriately and strategically, and not bespattered to Labour cronies.

We have to always expect the unexpected and we will probably see a return of different COVID-19 strains, which we should be prepared for, at least from a medical perspective.

What we were not prepared for, however, is the sudden and global pressure on our island economy as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. With little if any cereals flowing out of Ukraine and the impact of sanctions on Russia starting to bite, basic commodity prices have started to rise, fuel prices fluctuate wildly and transport becomes more costly. As raw materials become scarce this has the potential to hit Malta in a crippling manner.

We’ve already seen studies which have pointed out large pressure points on those who are slightly more vulnerable to small price movements. People have started to adapt to the ballooning cost of living by making lifestyle changes. These changes have the potential to damage the economy.

The Labour government must live up to its promises and assure a better quality of life in these challenging times.

Jerome Caruana Cilia, PN spokesperson for Finance