Thursday, February 3, 2022 - 09:33

In my view by F. Oliva

Keith Azopardi’s second main criticism of the Picardo administration is that it has presided over “the most reckless ratcheting up of public debt in Gibraltar’s history.” There have been endless rows, recriminations and counter-recriminations across the floor of parliament on the subject.

This formed part of the core electoral battles of 2015 and 2019 and politically the point was conclusively settled with the GSD routed on both occasions. Yet Azopardi dredges up similar arguments hoping that with Government’s popularity worn down by Covid, Brexit, and the passage of time, the economic critique that captured little traction then, can now succeed in denting the GSLP-Lib’s armour.
But the truth is that in order to properly understand the reasons for our “reckless” public expenditure, the exponential growth experienced in the past forty years, it is necessary to take a step back away from the party political fracas to gain a wider, deeper perspective and do proper justice in a way that politicians cannot do for fear of losing votes and popularity. This column is unconstrained by such considerations.