Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said that by the end of the year, the consultation on the Policy on Economic Migration will be published

Delivering the budget speech, Caruana said that "ultimately the government will decide in favour of the common good."

He said that an added-value economy needs hard decisions because "the time has come for the country to look at the next step in its development"

Caruana said at the same time, the wisdom of those who contributed and worked for many years cannot be lost, and for that reason the government believes that the Jobsplus mentoring programmes should be strengthened. He said that to this end, a register of for the persons who have reached retirement age but still show a desire to continue contributing with their work will be kept so that Jobsplus will be able to inform employers on the skills of these persons who, in turn will receive a grant, that doesn't affect their pension, for the mentoring service they will be providing on the workplace. 

Teachers' Sectoral Agreement will be renewed with increases in teachers' salaries

The educator's sectoral agreement of 2023, that saw the compromise of both government and the MUT, is set to be renewed until 2027 and anticipated to affect 8,600 educators, Minister for Finance Clyde Caruana said.

Caruana said that the government fully believes that education is the foundation of a just, progressive, and sustainable society and for that reason, amongst others, the government is determined to implement the National Education Strategy 2024-2030 with the aim of transforming the education system for the benefit of all generations.

Caruana said that when compared to the Eurydice Report (2021-2022) on the salary of teachers, the new Maltese agreement shows that the teachers' salaries in 2024 will average at nearly 10% higher than those of other countries. He said that this "advantageous" difference is expected to grow and reach approximately 15% by 2027.

Caruana said that a stronger mechanism of support is to be created for the educators that will increase their satisfaction levels on the workplace and give them a greater sense of wellbeing and so, "decrease the attrition". He said that educators will become directly involved in the development cycle of policies through a mechanism of pre-consultation as a requisite for the development of the policy. Furthermore, he said that a Forum for the Awareness on Education in Malta, the MEFF, is set to be established to better the synergy between the education sector, external and governmental entities as well as industry.

Tax cuts for parents of children in private schools

Caruana said that the government understands the families that send their children to private schools and although it reached an agreement so that private schools will not increase their fees more than an established and agreed amount, they saw an increase in expenses, though not as much as it were had there not been an agreement. He said that for this reason, the government will increase the amount that parents, who send their children to independent schools, can decrease with regards to tax so that; the amount for those who have children in kindergarten will rise to €3,500, those in primary school to €4,600 and those in secondary school to €6,500

8 schools to be renovated per year

Caruana said that the government is committed to modernize and renovate over 100 schools over a period of 13 years with the initiative financing 8 projects per year. He said that these projects will promote sustainability as much as possible by integrating efficient systems with regards to energy usage and environmentally-friendly materials. He added that this complements the investment that is being done in schools in Gozo which saw the building of new schools such as that in Rabat, amongst others, including an investment of over €18 million for the educational campus in Rabat.

Planned investment for the expansion of Emergency and the creation of an Acute Psychiatric Centre

Caruana said the government plans to continue sustaining the Health Sector through an increase in investment including over €140 million EU funds that will be used to improve infrastructure and medical apparatus. He said that for this reason, in the coming months, a tender will be issued to expand the Emergency Department, the ITU and for the creation of an Acute Psychiatric Centre.

Caruana said that meanwhile, €14 million are to allocated to significantly decrease waiting times for certain operations and it is estimated that over the next year, over 5000 operations will be done through a cooperation with the private sector.