Finance Minister Clyde Caruana announced the budget for the upcoming year on Monday night.

Right at the top of his list were the energy subsidies, which will once again be shouldered by the government, for an outlay of €350m. Pensions are set to increase, as will the minimum wage and children’s allowance. Meanwhile, the COLA Plus payment will now be given to 95,000 households. 

There was less focus on the environment, with most schemes for renewable energy and urban greening already in place. Other areas, such as tourism and culture, also saw few new developments.

We break down the key pledges by theme: 

Workers

• Tax refund cheques of between €60 and €140 to be issued to 250,000 workers, for a total expenditure of €26m
• Minimum wage to increase to €213.54 per week
• Cost of living adjustment (COLA) for 2024 will be €12.81 per week
• COLA Plus payments of between €100 and €1,500 per household to be issued to 95,000 "vulnerable" households 
• Unemployment benefits to be adjusted to 60% of previous salary, eventually dropping to 50%

Parents

• Children’s allowance to increase to €250 per child
• Parents to receive €500 bonus for each newborn child, and €1,000 for a second child, both up from €400 previously
• Extra €487 a year for parents who quit work to care for a child with a disability
• Disability benefits to increase by €8.54 per week and severe disability benefits to go up by €12.81 per week.
• €50 in-work benefit per child aged under 23

Property

• €10,000 increase (from €30,000 to €40,000) to first-time buyers buying UCA property in Gozo
• Removal of a tax incentive for property purchases in Gozo, with stamp duty rising back up to 5%
• Social housing benefit to rise by €4,200 for single people and €6,000 for families with at least two children
• Schemes for first and second-time property buyers to pay lower rates of duty to remain in place
• First-time buyer scheme announced last year, giving buyers €1,000 each year for ten years to be extended 
• Capital gains and stamp duty exemptions for restoration of vacant properties to remain in place
• Anomaly on VAT refund scheme for people buying or fixing up property addressed so couples and single people receive an equal refund

 Transport

• Tender to develop a national network of cycling routes by the end of the year
• Plans to pause some services during morning rush hour traffic
• Grants for electric vehicles to be kept in place.
• Financial incentives to help people buy an e-scooter
• Plans to develop more parking areas through public-private partnerships
• Plans for 1,200 charging points for electric vehicles across the country

Pensions & the elderly

• Pensions to increase by €15 per week, an increase of €780 over the whole year. This includes the record €12.81 COLA payment
• Pensioners who started receiving a pension from 2009 onwards to get a top-up of up to €1 per week
• Pensions for people born before 1962 to receive increases calculated on rises in salaries, addressing a previous anomaly
• Widows and widowers under 61 to be exempt from tax and to receive full pension in line with what their deceased spouse would have been entitled to
• Anyone delaying retirement by a year to receive 6.5% pension top-up, rising to 29% if retirement is postponed by four years
• Third pillar pensions to eventually become opt-out, instead of opt-in
• €1,000 increase for people with live-in carers, from €7,000 to €8,000
• Bonus of between €500 and €600 for people who do not have enough social security contributions to qualify for a pension
• Allowance for a carer at home to increase by €1,000 to reach €8,000
• Between €300 and €450 a year for elderly who live at home
• 60% of income of pensioners who continue working will be untaxed, up by 20%

Education

• €64 yearly increase in stipends for students, equivalent to the COLA increase.
• €500 yearly payment for three years for children over 16 who live at home and stay in school
• Extension of existing schemes, such as the One Tablet per Child scheme and scholarship schemes

Environment

• Development of urban green spaces through Project Green
• Schemes for homeowners to invest in PV panels, solar water heaters, well restoration and water filtering systems to remain in place

Energy

• Energy and other subsidies to remain in place, to the tune of €350m
• Shore-to-ship project at Malta Freeport underway, allowing docked vessels to plug into shore power
• Work on the second interconnector underway
• Plan to develop a hydrogen energy strategy
• Investment in energy distribution network to increase

Health

• Government formulary to include new IVF medicines and medication for asthma, pulmonary fibrosis and mental health conditions
• Health clinics in Mosta, Floriana and Cospicua to be refurbished to offer blood transfusion services

Industry

• €40m Business Enhance funding scheme and €16.5m INVEST EU scheme for small and medium enterprises
• 30,000 square metre land reclamation at Malta Freeport
• New centre of excellence in the field of semiconductors
• Obligations for small business owners to file audited accounts to be lightened
• Implementation of minimum 15% corporate tax rate to be delayed

Arts, Culture & Sport

• New funding schemes for the arts through Arts Council Malta
• Malta Biennale to be held between March and May under the patronage of UNESCO
• 7.5% tax rate extended to people engaged in different sporting activities

Tourism & Gozo

• €215m recapitalisation for new Air Malta
• €58m EU funding for sustainable urban development in Gozo