The government spent €115,000 in promoting budget measures over three weeks, according to information provided by the Office of the Prime Minister.

Malta’s budget for 2023 was announced in parliament on October 24, with Finance Minister Clyde Caruana confirming energy subsidies, announcing record cost-of-living increases and sticking to his promise of not introducing new taxes.  

Asked for the total expenditure allocated for the budget information campaign, on November 12 an OPM spokesperson said: “A budget of €115,000 was allocated which, over the course of a number of weeks, included various means of advertising from online to newspapers, radio and television, as well as a presence on Maltese roads.”

Further questions to clarify whether the €115,000 allocation was spent over the weeks since the budget speech and whether more was being allocated for the information campaign in the following weeks, remained unanswered.

OPM also did not provide a breakdown of the expenditure.

Instead, the spokesperson said the budget included several initiatives and it was “very important for the public to be informed about them, since, ultimately, they are the beneficiaries”.  He added the government had also launched a freephone and website with information about the budget.

“It is the government’s obligation to advertise the services together with the budget measures and the public responded very well, so much so that thousands called on the freephone or visited the site budget.gov.mt,” the spokesperson said.

Reported spending over the past years vary significantly: according to media reports, the government spent €385,322 in budget advertising in 2012 and just over €200,000 in 2015. In 2018, it spent €65,719 to advertise the budget while the pre-budget consultation meetings and media promotion in 2021 cost taxpayers €438,804.