PN says cost of living crisis hitting families as Malta inflation outpaces EU average

The Nationalist Party has warned that Maltese and Gozitan families continue to struggle under the weight of rising prices, as official figures show Malta’s cost of living growing faster than the EU average.

According to the National Statistics Office, the inflation rate in August stood at 2.7%, higher than the EU average of 2.4% and the euro area’s 2%. By comparison, Germany registered 2.1%, Ireland 1.9%, Italy 1.6% and France just 0.8%.

While inflation in many European countries is slowing down, the PN noted that in Malta it rose sharply compared with July and the same month last year.

“This means that while the Labour Government is giving land belonging to the people to the chosen few for a third of the price, families and workers keep paying higher bills and buying property at unaffordable prices. This is a direct theft from the people’s pockets,” the PN said in a statement.

Opposition leader Alex Borg said on social media that, like many citizens, he understands the realities families are facing. He pledged that the PN is formulating policies aimed at easing the burden and ensuring a better quality of life.

The party pointed to measures it has already proposed to address the crisis. These include the removal of tax on the annual cost-of-living adjustment so that workers can benefit fully from wage increases, exemptions on the first €10,000 earned from overtime and part-time work, and tax credits for small and medium-sized enterprises to prevent them from raising prices to cope with higher costs.

The PN also called for a national fund to support importers and exporters with transport costs and for a new, sustainable economic model based on higher-value sectors that generate better wages and productivity.

The PN said it would continue to put pressure on government to take “serious and effective” measures to ensure families are not “drowning under the weight of the cost of living”.