Clear no to fuel and electricity price hikes

Malta’s inflation remains the lowest in the Eurozone as a result of government’s direct intervention to cushion fuel and electricity prices despite the cost to public coffers. 

This interventionist policy was spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that sent food and energy prices skyrocketing. 

And it seems that the Maltese public is unwilling to share the burden of higher fuel and energy prices. 

A MaltaToday survey that asked whether fuel and electricity rates should increase because of the circumstances caused by the war, unsurprisingly found that 85.3% disagreed. 

Only 7.5% believe that ordinary people should shoulder part of the war-induced burden and another 7.2% could not reply. 

The message to Finance Minister Clyde Caruana is unequivocally clear: continue subsidising fuel and electricity. 

This sentiment is reflected almost uniformly across all age groups and all regions. It is only in Gozo, where a significantly higher proportion agree with raising fuel and electricity when compared to other regions.  

In Gozo, 24.5% agree that prices should rise but 64.2% disagree. 

Political allegiance does not make a difference to the replies. The survey shows that 83% of Labour voters and 89.3% of PN voters do not agree with price hikes.