The Nationalist Party’s grasp of basic budgeting seems as elusive as ever. From evasive answers to grandiose promises with no price tags, the PN’s financial logic appears to operate on pure wishful thinking. 

In this article, we take a look at what a “budget” actually means, and why the Cambridge Dictionary might be Alex Borg’s best investment yet.

Alright, let’s do this together. Open your favourite browser. Type ‘define budget’ in the search bar. Choose a reputable dictionary. Read the first answer. And there you go — you already know more than the entire Nationalist Party.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines a budget as: A plan to show how much money a person or organisation will earn and how much they will need or be able to spend.

To procure or implement something, you need to earn money to finance it. To earn, you must know which activities you will engage in to generate wealth. And most importantly, to spend, you need to know the cost of what you are planning to buy.

Quite basic, right? Apparently not. The PN has, as is customary, already made a few grandiose proposals, some of which would, in no uncertain terms, bankrupt the country.

And yet, Alex Borg, when asked numerous times, remained evasive and silent, muttering buzzwords but providing no figures.

The bottom line is that they do not know how much their proposals would cost, let alone how they plan to finance them.

But now there’s a new expert in town: Adrian Delia to the rescue.

And in style, he solved all budgetary issues in one single sentence: He who creates problems cannot be the one to solve them.

Wow. That could be your next finance minister.

We don’t need to go back in time to see how Malta’s finances were during PN times — not only because we have better things to do, but also because most of you remember.

Just look at the state of the PN’s own finances: ballooning debts and no accounts in sight.

By Adrian Delia’s own measure, they have already rendered themselves entirely out of service.

Prosit, Alex. For starters, if you are planning to buy the Cambridge Dictionary, with €35 you should be able to manage it.