Budget 2024 speech to be presented on 30th October

The Budget 2024 speech will be presented live in Parliament on 30th October, Prime Minister Robert Abela confirmed on Saturday.

Taking to social media, Prime Minister Abela said that discussions were held on Saturday morning on the Government’s legislative programme for the coming months and years, and presented an image of the meeting held with Labour Party MPs.

“We will be tabling a number of important proposals in Parliament,” Dr Abela wrote. Parliament is currently on summer recess, but will reconvene shortly.

Dr Abela then announced the Budget 2024 date, describing it as one built on the “common good, our vision for the country and delivering of our electoral manifesto”.

Little is known about the upcoming Budget, while Malta’s social partners have begun to present their proposals. The Malta Employers Association presented a proposal to mitigate the expected €13 cost of living adjustment while The Malta Chamber proposed its own solution for balancing the number of third country nationals working in Malta.

The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, meanwhile, called for assurances that the energy subsidy keeping electricity and fuel prices capped at 2022 levels will remain in place, which it did not have to wait long for, and raised concerns about the excess bed stock in the country, calling for growth in tourist numbers to be registered in the shoulder months, rather than the over-stretched peak season.

This week, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana soothed fears and confirmed that the highly costly energy subsidy will remain in place next year, and but acknowledged inflation will remain high. He also said the Government was working towards reigning in the deficit.