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There has tough talk in recent months manufacturing is a thing of the past and that Malta’s future lies with the ever increasing and burgeoning services industry which admittedly has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years.
But any statement belittling the manufacturing industry has to be seen within the context of this sector’s massive contribution to the country’s economic policy as a whole.
In fact, this industry actually generates 11 per cent of Malta’s Gross Domestic Product, 17 per cent of total employment and a whopping 55 per cent of all foreign exchange inflows on our external current account.
So it was more than appropriate for Federation of Industry President Martin Galea to emphasize these figures yet again as we sometimes seem to forget the crucial role that this sector continues to play within the context of our economy. However this does not mean that the manufacturing industry is not passing through turbulent times and the results of the latest FOI perception survey demonstrate this precarious position in abundance.
Signs of some sort of recovery are however apparent and there are sub-sectors such as Radio, TV and Communications which are showing a healthy growth. On the other hand, the dismal situation with regards to the Textiles sub-sector and to a lesser extent the Food and Beverages sector appears to have continued with the former also experiencing a considerable drop in employment.
Another issue which appears to remain in a state of flux is the lack of qualified personnel for the high end manufacturing market which is certainly a sector which Malta should continue to aim for.
Galea made a bold statement when he said that the quality of our graduates both from MCAST and University has to improve drastically if we are to start filling the ever increasing positions in the increasingly important pharmaceutical sector.
Add all this to government’s inertia in conducting the much needed reforms within the public service. Although something has admittedly been done, and the workforce paid by the State has been reduced, the government’s payroll and its staff complement is still way too excessive for a modern, globalised economy.
The tens of thousands of employees who still work for government continue to be a burden for the country as a whole with inefficiency still the order of the day in a myriad of departments.
If we want to turn this country into a state of the art ICT destination, then we have to start looking at our general perspectives and bite the bullet when it is necessary. It is all well and good to have Smart City but lots of talk and empty rhetoric will not fill the jobs that are coming on stream slowly but surely. And a Lm 50 million new MCAST is fine but we have to move from lots of grand talk into serious action to avoid being left behind by countries who act quicker and plan with more foresight.
Sinking shipyards
For yet another year, the beleaguered state owned Malta Shipyards or the drydocks have made huge losses for the financial year and this time the losses exceeded expectations, clocking in at a worrisome Lm 9 million, well above what was projected for 2006.
Once again lots of brave words and gloomy rhetoric was announced during the results presentation, subsidies expire in 2008, productivity has gone down, timekeeping is not acceptable.
It is all too simple to blame everyone for the situation that the shipyards have once again found themselves in but it is really a management issue. One begins to think who is actually running the company. How can productivity decrease instead of increase? Who is being held accountable for the thousands of man-hours being lost every year?
Why haven’t antiquated shift systems been changed? All these questions and many more besides need to answered very soon as if the yards continue to sink then almost half a billion liri will have sunk with them to absolutely no avail and that is unacceptable to a nation that purports to have a carefully managed fiscal regime.. |
