1980
1980 Photo

The need for long term economic planning

The common thread of the need for long term economic planning continued to be one of Mr Bossano’s priorities. He believed it was of utmost importance for the Government to set out policies which extended further than just the immediate implications. His three-pronged approach consisted of:

  1. The Government should have a target for economic growth to create wealth;
  2. The Government should have a set of fiscal policies in place to generate revenues; and
  3. The Government should have a social programme to determine how the wealth created should be consumed.

“What I see so far is fiscal policies designed to meet needs in an expenditure programme which is basically an expenditure programme of maintaining existing standards with some small level of improvement in some areas.”

Mr Bossano criticised that the 1980 budget failed to take into account the possibility of an open frontier. By planning for such a scenario, it would have placed the Government in a better position for economic policy making.

On the impact of legislation in the ECC; we take fiscal measures without working out the economic repercussions in a situation where we have got normal communication with Spain, we could destroy the economy of Gibraltar without even knowing what we are doing and would find out too late. So what I have been trying to impress over the years, Mr Speaker, now becomes a vital necessity.