One can use a number of expressions to describe the situation of the Maltese government as the minister of finance puts in the last touches to the budget due to be presented in parliament on Monday.

The broad numbers have been ready for a long time, but we all know the devil is in the detail and today the government cannot ignore the detail anymore.

I could have used the term “being stuck between a rock and place” or “having a tough nut to crack”, or “catching a falling knife with no handle”. Since I have used the former two already this year, I decided to go for a fourth one – the government is in a “catch-22 situation”. Whichever term one uses, there is indeed no doubt that the government is in a difficult situation as it does not have the flexibility it enjoyed in the last years in its fiscal policy.

The reason is fairly straightforward. There are too many demands on its finances, and resources are starting to become scarce. Some of the challenges have been inherited from previous years, but still relate to the last nine years. Some of the challenges could never have been foreseen, but we still have to face them. Others may have been created by decisions taken in the last year or so.

In any case, we are talking with the benefit of hindsight and that is not always fair. The situation is what it is and Monday’s budget is about the coming year, with many not even wanting to bother to make any forecast about 2023 after the ravages caused by the coronavirus, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the dramatic increase in the rate of inflation, etc.

The easiest thing today is to be an armchair critic saying what should be done and what should not be done, without the responsibility of ever being made to feel accountable for those statements. We are in a catch-22 situation as whatever action is taken will take away much-needed resources from other areas. It is like catching a falling knife without a handle as whichever one looks at the decisions that need to be taken, there will always be those who will be worse off, whether we like it or not.

The government has spent a significant amount of money in the last three years, including 2022, to support families and businesses through the coronavirus and the impact of inflation on the cost of fuel and electricity. However, these were not the only significant items of government expenditure. There is the expectation that support will continue in the coming year, even with the scarce resources we have.

However, there are some questions that should be put. Would we have had more resources had we not done the agreement with Vitals/Steward Health Care? Would we have had more resources had we been more judicious in the employment of persons in the public sector in the run-up to the last general election? Would we have had more resources had we been stricter in applying procurement rules and awarded less direct contracts?

Again, should there be a tariff structure for water and electricity consumption that penalises strongly high users? Should there be higher licences for vehicles that pollute more and use more fuel? Could we have done with less grandiose projects and used funds in projects that affect our daily lives? Has the behaviour of the last years raised the expectations of the various lobby groups such that it is now difficult to meet everyone’s expectations?

Could we have done with less grandiose projects and used funds in projects that affect our daily lives?

We need to look at reality in the face. There are some segments of the population, and also some segments of the business sector, that require more help than others. We cannot have more people falling into the poverty trap. Moreover, we cannot see certain business activities being threatened, mainly those that contribute more significantly to employment and to the economy’s value added.

The rest come later. Many of the rest have already had their fill, in any case.