Ma kienx hemm sorpriżi fi tbassir ekonomiku dwar Malta li għamlet il-Kummissjoni Ewropea fid-dokument tagħha tal-ħarifa. Ikkonfermat li t-tkabbir ta’ dis-sena kien wieħed sinjifikattiv u li r-rankatura mistennija tkompli s-sena d-dieħla u ta’ wara, anki jekk b’pass anqas.
Kemm id-defiċit tal-gvern sena fuq sena, u kemm id-dejn nazzjonali bħala persentaġġ tal-ekonomija kollha kemm hi, huma mistennija li jiċkienu. Dan ipoġġi qafas ta’ fiduċja madwar il-ħidma ekonomika u jinkoraġġiha ’l quddiem.
Ir-riżultati miksuba jkomplu jsaħħu d-dipendenza tal-ekonomija fuq is-servizzi.
L-esportazzjoni ta’ prodotti baqgħet tmajna.
Ir-rata ta’ investiment se tonqos, in parti għax il-fondi tal-Unjoni Ewropea għas-sentejn li ġejjin se jlaħħqu anqas milli telgħu fl-aħħar sentejn.
Se tkun meħtieġa attenzjoni akbar fuq il-kwalità tal-investimenti publiċi. Mhux l-ewwel darba fl-imgħoddi li dawn, minflok kienu utli, spiċċaw ħala ta’ riżorsi.
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Teknika tal-Films
Ma stagħġibtx għax ili nissuspettaha. Minkejja l-intenzjonijiet kollha tajba, u minkejja l-prospetti li qed jitjiebu għal xogħol ġej minn barra fit-teknika tal-produzzjoni tal-films, il-“provista” ta’ ħaddiema żgħażagħ lesti biex jaħdmu mhijiex adekwata. It-taħriġ li qed jingħataw mhuwiex iwassalhom biex ikollhom biżżejjed mis-snajja tekniċi meħtieġa.
Dan minkejja li sar investiment qawwi fl-apparat video fl-MCAST. Jekk fhimt tajjeb, l-aqwa sfida li mhijiex tintrebaħ tinsab fost oħrajn, fil-metodi tat-tagħlim. Dawn iridu jiġu aġġornati u modernizzati, li mhuwiex jiġri.
Problema oħra hi li l-apparat jista’ jintuża mill-istudenti biss fil-ħinijiet tal-ftuħ tal-kulleġġ, ħaġa li ftit tagħmel sens.
Il-problemi eżistenti ma jeħtiġux strateġiji ta’ wisq tul biex ikunu maħlula. Li jeħtieġu hi rieda tajba minn kull min hu involut fit-taħriġ fil-qasam tal-awdjo viżiv. Hu qasam fejn iż-żgħażagħ tagħna, b’formazzjoni tajba, jistgħu jkunu kompetittivi sew.
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Nota Teatrali
Ħadt sehem f’diskussjoni dwar drammi li ktibt snin twal ilu, miġbura fi ktieb tal-SKS li għadu kemm ħareġ “Qabel Tiftaħ l-Inkjesta u drammi oħra”. Ġa semmejtu f’dal-blogg. Is-serata nżammet matul il-Festivall tal-Ktieb.
Smajt il-perspettivi ta’ Marco Galea (kiteb id-daħla tal-ktieb), ta’ Toni Sant u Joyce Grech li tellgħu tnejn mid-drammi żmien ilu.
Lil hinn minn eżerċizzju fin-nostalġija, id-diskussjoni tefgħet dawl fuq kif matul ħajja ta’ bniedem temi mitqiesa ta’ interess minnu, ftit jinbidlu. Anki jekk maż-żmien, il-mod kif iqishom jinbidlu.
Hemm tendenza naturali li tiġġudika kitbiet li dehru tletin sena ilu jew aktar, fid-dawl ta’ x’ikun ġara fil-frattemp. Meta tipprova tmur lura lejn il-perspettiva taż-żmien meta nkitbu, issib li qisek qed tidħol għal spjegi dwar sfond “storiku” li jinħassu tassew komplikati.
English Version – What the commission said
There were no surprises in the European Commission’s autumn economic forecast for Malta. It confirmed that this year’s economic growth will be significant and that the momentum will carry over into the next year and the year after, albeit at a slower pace.
The year-on-year government deficit as well as the national debt, both as a percentage of GDP, are expected to fall. That injects confidence and encourages further economic activity.
Some points however merit attention. The results being achieved continue to increase our economic dependency on services.
Exports of goods remain in decline.
Investment rates will decrease partly because EU funds for the coming two years are likely to be less than their levels of the past two years.
Greater attention will be needed to monitor the quality of public investments. There have been instances in the past when instead of being well placed, such “investments” amounted to a waste of resources.
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Film techniques
I had long suspected it might be happening. So I was not surprised to learn it is. Despite all the good intentions, and although there has been an improvement in prospects from abroad for work locally in the technology of film production, the “supply” of young people ready to do the job, is still not adequate. The training they are getting leaves them short of being able to deploy the necessary technical skills.
Yet at MCAST, substantial investment has been allocated to the purchase of state of the art video equipment. If my understanding is correct, one of the biggest challenges that needs to be faced, relates to teaching methods. They need to be updated and modernised – a matter that has been left pending.
Another issue is that students can only access equipment during college opening hours, which hardly makes sense.
If they are to be resolved, existing problems do not need action strategies that stretch over the very long term. All they need is goodwill on the part of those involved in preparing students for the audiovisual sector, where if given the right training, Maltese young people would surely make big inroads.
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Dramatic note
I took part in a discussion about plays that I wrote many years ago, now appearing in a book just published by SKS “Qabel tiftaħ l-Inkjesta and other plays” (already mentioned in this blog.) The event was held at the Book Festival.
I listened to viewpoints presented by Marco Galea, who wrote an introduction for the book, and by Toni Sant and Joyce Grech, who had directed two of the plays quite a while ago.
Beyond being an exercise in nostalgia for me, the discussion seemed to highlight a particular issue: how in his/her lifetime, a person experiences little change in the choice of themes which he/she considers to be worthy of interest, even while coming to assess them differently over time.
Naturally, the tendency is to judge writing which first saw the light of day thirty years ago or more, in terms of what occurred in the meantime. When one tries to recapture the perspectives of the period when such writing was framed, one inevitably ends up being drawn into explanations about the “historical” backdrop that get increasingly convoluted.
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