Around 80,000 people from 37,000 households will be getting an additional cost-of-living allowance, details of which will be announced in next week's budget, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said on Monday. 

Without revealing too many details, Caruana told Times of Malta the additional COLA will be given to those who were most vulnerable and those who needed it most. 

"I will not give you figures but this measure is intended to protect the most vulnerable such as pensioners and those on social benefits, among others," he said. 

He did not explain, despite being asked, how these 80,000 had been identified. 

"These people need our help, now more than ever," he said, adding that a balance had to be struck to ensure that work continued to pay and that those receiving the extra payment are not discouraged from working. 

Asked about how platform workers will be regulated, as announced by Prime Minister Robert Abela last week, Caruana said details will be announced during the budget.

He said it was unacceptable that these people providing such an "essential service" continued to be exploited. 

350 AirMalta employees apply for early retirement 

Replying to a question about AirMalta staff, Caruana said that the staff reduction plan would have been concluded by the year's end.

Calculations are currently underway on how much those 350 who applied for early retirement would be receiving.

"We are in discussions with the European Commission so that it can then decide what route Air Malta will take. The rapport with the European Commission has improved drastically and we will submit the documentation that it requested in the next weeks," he said.

Caruana was speaking during the launch of a 350-page full-colour booklet on the 77 per cent implementation rate of previous budget measures. 

He spoke about how Italian families were seeing an increase in their utility bills of an average of €4,700 and praised the government's decision to cushion the impact on Maltese families.