Tag: Public finances
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EU Commission recommends to remove Malta out of Excessive Fiscal Deficit Procedure
The EU Commission has today recommended to remove Malta out of the the Excessive Fiscal Deficit Procedure. The EU Commission document says that: “The government debt-to-GDP ratio increased from 45.9% at the end of 2024 to 46.4% of GDP at the end of 2025, thus remaining below the 60% of GDP reference value. The Commission…
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No more cushions: the whole economy is a public subsidy
The Finance Minister is currently on a roll criticising the Nationalist Party for an arithmetic mistake in their new tax-reeducation estimates, but the Finance Minister should not get all so cocky about his work and his legacy. The Finance Minister has presented totally different financial estimates in just the span of a couple of weeks,…
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Government’s debt closed at €11.397 billion in 2025 (46.4% of the GDP) – 89.7% of debt held by bond-holders
According to the latest statistics issued by the NSO today, the government closed with a total debt of €11.397 billion for 2024 with 89.7% of this debt held in bonds. The debt amounted up to 46.4% of the GDP. Most of this debt is held by financial corporations and bands (53.9%), followed by households (22.4%)…
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Not a serious person
After the war on Iran broke-out, the Minister for Finances Clyde Caruana presented his financial estimates to the press and explained his “€250 million buffer” against the budget deficit. He projected a serious demeanor of someone who is in control of public finances and that he is on track to achieve a budgetary surplus in…
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Opposition spokesperson for Finances says the government gives no guarantee debt will decrease: highlights no capital projects
In a debate on the public broadcaster TVM, Opposition spokesperson for finance Adrian Delia said that, as the Finance Minister announced his proposals, he did not provide any guarantees that he would reduce the debt. He also criticised the government’s lack of spending on capital projects, while highlighting that the Nationalist Party is proposing new…
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Is the Finance Minister hitting his estimates?
The latest figures published by the National Statistics Office (NSO) for the fourth quarter of 2025 paint a mixed picture of Malta’s public finances, raising questions about whether Finance Minister Clyde Caruana is truly on track with his fiscal targets. According to the NSO’s quarterly accounts, Malta’s general government deficit for 2025 stood at €545.3…
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Government finances improve as revenue surge masks rising debt
According to the latest data released by the NSO Malta’s public finances showed a sharp improvement in the first two months of 2026, with the government reporting a €229.6 million surplus in the Consolidated Fund by the end of February. The turnaround is significant when compared to the same period last year, which had registered a…
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You can’t crticise the government for raising debt if you want to keep the subsidies
Yesterday in Parliament, Alex Borg did a Miriam Dalli and said that he will be retaining energy subsidies and lower electricity bills via renewable energy sources if elected Prime Minister. Alex Borg doesn’t seem to understand that Malta has the lowest electricity tariffs in the EU because the government is spending up to €200 million…
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Government debt up by €10.93 billion but government revenue also increased by 17.16%
According to NSO statistics, the Maltese government has achieved a significant increase in government revenue during the past few quarters despite rising expenditure and the increasing public debt figure. Government revenue has increased by 17.16% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same quarter of last year. On the other hand, government…
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Nationalist Party proposes 25% income tax and 15% company tax
Yesterday, during a political meeting in Gozo, Opposition and Nationalist Party Leader Bernard Grech declared that the Nationalist Party will lower income taxes to 25% and company taxes to 15%. The upper band of the income tax bracket, that starts at €60,000 is calculated at 35%. Company tax on the other hand is at 35%.…
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Why is the government spending more?
Yesterday, Nationalist MP and Shadow Minister for Finance Graham Bencini published a post on the government’s finances where he said that the government is spending up to €590,000 daily on interest rates on around €9.5 billion in debt, €4 billion of which have been accumulated during Robert Abela’s administration. Now, of course interest rate payments…
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On inflation and saying one thing and doing another
Ever since taking office, Clyde Caruana has insisted on the principles of financial austerity as budget expenditure kept ballooning. As of last year, he began making dire warnings that budget expenditure was going too high apart from disapproving of lavish and capricious government expenditure. He also said that he wanted to reduce the deficit and…
