poems of forgiveness


In addition some of the United Kingdom's NATO partners, notably Italy, agreed to provide bilateral economic aid. Mintoff's aggressive style, which appeared to pay off in international negotiations, had less impressive results in the sphere of economic policy.

here he seemed inclined to make arbitrary decisions without carefully calculating the costs and benefits. the choice of investment projects and trade policy were adversely affected as a result. his succes- sor, mifsud bonnici, took a more pragmatic approach.
by the 1971 election the church had assumed a neutral stance, which may partly explain the gain in labour votes. the dispute that broke out between the labour government and the church in the early 1980s over church property and church-run schools and hospitals (discussed below) probably affected the voting in the election of 1987. during the transition to independence and in the first decade after independence, malta concentrated on providing infrastructure and fis- cal incentives for manufacturing industries and tourism and on encour- aging emigration. after the 1971 election victory the labour government assumed an active entrepreneurial role. malta severed its remaining economic ties with the united kingdom and adopted an independent foreign exchange policy. it also tightened its economic controls and launched a series of social reforms.
high priority was therefore given to obtaining financing from foreign sources to replace the revenue from military bases; to promoting local productive activity; and to providing employment, at home or abroad, for maltese workers. attention also turned to the need for social services, a need made urgent by the rapid, war-triggered transformation of malta from a traditional to an egalitarian society. colonial office asked a committee headed by sir wilfred woods to a) estimate the amount of war damage malta had suffered, which was to be compensated by the government of the united kingdom, (b) suggest how to improve social standards in malta, and (c) suggest how the government of malta could increase its revenue to cover ordinary expenditure (united kingdom 1946). the subsequent report estimated that private property had suffered war damage totaling £26. the assistance needed to repair the damage to private and public property and to improve schools, hospitals, water, and electricity was reckoned at 42.
sir wilfred also recommended that malta introduce an income tax and a private property tax and that it eliminate subsidies to public utilities. schuster to report on the economic position of malta, to suggest ways of increasing government revenue, and to pro- pose what form eventual assistance from the united kingdom might take (schuster 1950).

sir george's report concluded that malta needed to expand industry, rationalize agriculture, and promote tourism. it was also important, the report noted, to improve infrastructure; to provide industrial incentives in the form of protective duties, fiscal exoneration, and training grants; and to conduct detailed studies to determine the economic potential of various parts of the economy. the recommenda- tions were not carried out for lack of finances. in 1955 dom mintoff, as head of the labour government, called on balogh and seers to devise a development strategy.3 their report, like schuster's, called for infrastructural improvements and for the transfer of relatively labor-intensive industries from the united kingdom to malta.
an industrial estate needed to be established and facilities devel- oped for training local technicians. unlike the two previous reports, which clearly promoted emigration, the balogh-seers report argued that emigration was costly to malta.6 million for emigration and training grants, to which must be added the hidden costs of the brain drain-most of the migrants were young and highly skilled. the balogh-seers report estimated that to put the development pro- gram into effect, malta needed capital grants of 3 million to 3.5 million a year and a current budget support grant of 1. this plan and the subsequent plans formulated by the nationalist govern- ments consisted of a program for improving the infrastructure (to be carried out by the government with assistance of foreign donors), a package of investment and emigration incentives, and forecasts of outcomes.
import substitution would be through a protective tariff based on degree of , but planners hoped to export-oriented industry as . new industrial invest- ment would be through capital grants or ranging from 33.. ..
poems of forgiveness