The Malta Independent 23 May 2025, Friday
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Prime Minister says pensions will increase again next budget

Sunday, 27 April 2025, 12:30 Last update: about 25 days ago

Prime Minister Robert Abela said that pensions will again be raised in the budget to be announced in October.

Abela spoke briefly in three localities on Sunday - Paola, Qormi and Rabat.

Speaking about the country's finances, he said that Malta managed to reduce the deficit more than planned. He said that this was done in the context where other EU countries are raising taxes, yet in Malta "we gave the biggest tax cut in this country's history."

He said that the government also gave a historic increase in the children's allowance. "In the first three of five budgets we reached our electoral pledge," he said, speaking about the children's allowance.

Abela spoke about keeping the energy subsidies that are in place to protect the people and about incentives for first-time buyers to become owners of their own homes.

He spoke about workers, "who 12 years ago were brought to their knees by the PN. Today the economy is creating so much work that to fill jobs we need the participation of foreign workers. Today we have full-employment. There are seven job opportunities for every person on the unemployment register," he said.

Abela said that 12 years ago, "we were talking about  a reality where 8,000 people were unemployed," he said, adding that today the government is speaking about offering higher quality jobs, not just about providing jobs.

He said that the government wants the best opportunities to be taken up by the Maltese.

Abela spoke about several measures the government introduced over the years, including free school transport and free public transport and said that the government doesn't believe in austerity measures.

Regarding the national debt, he said it is below the 50% of GDP,  and said that the economy is growing.

The government knows how to run the economy and the finances of the country, Abela said.

"The IMF told us about the strong results we had," he said adding that during the Covid-19 pandemic, the government did not let families or businesses carry the burden.

Speaking about the Malta 2050 vision document, he described it as a unique document that brings within it all sectors. "Weorkers and the job market remains at the centre of that document," he said. Abela said that 1 May is not just a symbolic day, but to us means the values we believe in.

He invited people to unite with the PL on 1 May to celebrate the holiday.

 

 


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