An inflation handout introduced last year for vulnerable households will this year be allocated to 95,000 families - more than double the number of beneficiaries in 2022, Robert Abela said on Sunday.

Addressing PL supporters in Żabbar, the Prime Minister said these families will each receive between €100 and €1,500 through an additional mechanism targeting inflation that was first announced in 2021.

The handout, also known as a ‘second additional COLA payment’ started being paid out in December 2022. A total of €16.2 million were disbursed to 45,000 households, with the average payment amounting to €643. The lowest amount a family got was €100. 

This year, the payment will be disbursed to 95,000 families - including "the majority of pensioners" and will not be taxable, Abela promised on Sunday.

It is separate from the Cost of Living Adjustment, which will see a €12.81 increase in the weekly salary of all employees - nearly 30% over the €9.90 given in 2023.

COLA is awarded annually to compensate for inflation over the previous year. It is worked out on a fixed formula based on the cost of a basket of products and the minimum wage.

On Sunday, Abela said the PL had created an opportunity out of the global challenge of inflation.

For next year's budget, he said, the government was also allocating €350 million to retain stable energy prices - remaining " the only country" to do so.

Monday’s budget, Abela said, will be the second one of the current legislature, and will be another socialist one.

“This party was born as a workers’ party, is still a workers’ party and will continue to be a workers’ party,” he told supporters.

He said that while previous PN administrations had frozen the minimum wage, this government had committed itself to increase it year-on-year.

Earlier this week, the government announced a new minimum wage deal that will see workers on the lowest income make an additional €8 a week.

Currently, the minimum wage is set at €192.73 per week, exclusive of COLA. That will rise to €200.73 per week in January, and then gradually to €210.73 by 2027.

Abela added that over the past years, the PL had introduced free childcare, school transport and public transport among other measures, saving people thousands of euros. Meanwhile, the PN had warned that the country could soon need a bailout.

“All I know is that in 10 years, the PN changed its leader four times,” Abela quipped.