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Matthew Vella
The price of stamps will be increasing by one cent to 8c for standard letters after earlier this month, Maltapost issued a set of five stamps depicting Malta’s maritime history in which the 8c stamp was featured for the first time.
No notice has yet been given of the price increase, which has yet to be signed into the law by the minister for communications.
The Malta Communications Authority, the national regulator for postal services and telecommunications, decided not to uphold a request by Maltapost to increase postage prices for heavier envelopers and parcels.
Maltapost’s original request, submitted in March, was to increase the price for local standard letters weighing up to 50g, to 9c.
The MCA conducted an analysis of the three-year projections on volumes and costs submitted by Maltapost, concluding that without an adequate price increase, the business of domestic letters would continue to register losses.
Maltapost also requested a two-cent increase on postage weighing between 50-150g but the MCA said that since domestic mail weighing over 50g was not incurring losses, no price increase was required.
The last adjustment to the price of a standard letter occurred back in August 2002. According to the MCA, the price stability resulted in a “gradual erosion” of Maltapost’s revenues while its general costs kept increasing.
According to the 2000 Household Budgetary Survey, household spend on total postal services accounts for just Lm11.23 every year.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
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