Workers will receive an extra €9.90 a week from January as part of an automatically-calculated cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) which is intended to combat the impacts of inflation.

In 2021, COLA stood at €1.75 while in 2020, COLA reached €3.49 a week.

The cost-of-living adjustment is worked out by a fixed formula that considers the prices of a basket of items and services, many of which have spiralled this year. It takes into consideration the minimum wage and the past year’s inflation.

Caruana said that had the government not intervened, the COLA could have reached around €25 a week.

It is awarded to all employees and is paid by employers as part of their workers’ salary.

Over the past 10 years, with inflation fairly stable, COLA hardly ever exceeded €4. Since 1990, it has only gone beyond the €5 mark on three occasions.