Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1482478
CAPITAL EXPENDITURE Capital expenditure will top €920 million in 2023. A third of this expenditure will come from EU funds. ROADS Expenditure on roads drops to €90 million from €120 million. ENERGY SUBSIDIES Energy subsidies will account for €1 out of every €10 spends in 2023, 9.3% of all recurrent expenditure. This drops to 7.7% in 2024 and 5.5% in 2025. Energy expenditure will total €580 million. ASSISTANCE FOR BUSINESSES In 2023, Maltese businesses will be able to benefit from financial assistance of €50,000 in rental subsidy incentives, instead of €25,000 per year for the first three years of this assistance. The period in which businesses will be able to benefit from this scheme will be doubled from three to a maximum of six years. TAX CREDIT A maximum €40,000 tax credit will be available for investment in digital projects, projects that reduce energy and water consumption, or in investments that increase efficiency by reducing the waste of raw materials or waste. DIGITAL & SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS Malta Enterprise will double financial assistance by way of cash grants for all Maltese companies investing in digital and sustainable projects, covering 50% of eligible investment, up to a maximum of €100,000. MICROINVEST Following the entry into force of the Social Enterprise Act, a number of benefits currently available only to commercial companies will be extended for social enterprises via the Microinvest scheme: a tax credit of up to €70,000 over three years. ELECTRIC VEHICLES The financial grant to incentivise the purchase of new electric vehicles will be renewed and anyone buying a new vehicle, including motorcycles, powered by electric motors will be entitled to a grant of EUR 11,000, up to EUR 12,000 in case the vehicle scrapping scheme is used as well. The same is true of the scheme which incentivises the purchase of mopeds, pedelecs and bicycles assisted by an electric motor. ADDRESSING PAST INJUSTICES €8 million allocated to repay former members of the Police Corps who had entered public service after their retirement, apprentices and student workers. Former Gas Board workers, former apprentices at the MEB and former Telemalta workers will also be considered by government. PRIDE PARADE €2.5 million allocated for the organisation of the 2023 Euro Pride Parade. SPORT €1 million allocated for the 2023 Small Nations Games. 3 maltatoday | TUESDAY • 25 OCTOBER 2022 BUDGET2023 FINANCE minister Clyde Caruana unveiled his second Budget in a climate of unprecent- ed challenges which, he said, had compressed decades of calamities into just three years. Under the banner of 'Certainty and Stabili- ty', the Abela administration's first budget of the legislature – the third under Abela's tenure – Caruana pledged that the Maltese economy would stand firm and even generate wealth against the backdrop of war in Ukraine, the explosion in fuel prices and energy costs in Europe, the post-pandemic supply chain crisis. "We were not afraid of these great challenges and we will certainly not be afraid of the fu- ture. Despite the negativity and fear, we are still on our feet," Caruana said, paying tribute to Malta's history of resilience. He said Malta had not chosen the course to place more burdens on its people in the shad- ow of war in Ukraine. "Once again European countries have chosen to put eocnomic bur- dens on people... Other countries did not have the capacity to meet these challenges, so they turned to businesses and families. But the La- bour Government did not do so." Caruana said Malta was the only country in Europe to have opposed higher bills for users, and where fuel and electricity costs had not risen. "We took this step from the first day that faced this challenge.. I appreciate that politi- cally such a decision is tough and risky, but I strongly believe this is the wise decision." Caruana said Malta's economy had collapsed when a Nationalist administration had in- creased energy bills, saying the rising bills in 2008 had actually increased Enemalta's reve- nue by €100 million. "They collected €100 mil- lion more from people's pockets... today the blow is six times what it was, and we are not asking for one single euro from the people." Caruana accused the Opposition of a legacy of having "broken the economy and burdened the people." "With this example, tonight people will come to a conclusion that Labour is capable and credible to manage the country's economy and finances – you are not," he said. "We all know it took years to get the econo- my back on its feet. We saw families suffering. We saw businesses close. We saw great pro- tests in the streets. We saw great instability. Total investment paralysis for years." Caruana said the measures to prevent ener- gy price increases were preventing bills from doubling from €500 every quarter to €1,200. "The effects for an island, such as Malta, which is already affected by external inflation, would have been catastrophic." Caruana also took to task critics whom he said used populist arguments to claim there were magic wands with which to solve the country's problems. "Populism does not tell people the truth, and history has always side- lined these people. Even those who gained power in the United States and Europe, are po- litically collapsing... families, in the silence of their homes, want politicians to protect fami- lies and businesses from the increase in energy prices." Caruana outlined what he said were the five principles that had guided Labour's budget: socialism, which he said would protect low-in- come households; economic stability, to pro- tect businesses against rising inflation; Malta's LNG policy, whose price is linked to oil and had increased less than gas; a strong fiscal po- sition; and Labour's track record. "This government knows what it is doing. You know where we stand. We say things as they are, without any hesitation. This budget tells it, black on white... we're able to go against the current." REAL GDP 2022 6% 3.5% 2023 INFLATION 2022 5.7% 3.7% 2023 DEFICIT 2022 -5.8% -5.5% 2023 2024: -4.2% 2025: -2.8% DEBT 2022 57% 59.1% 2023 2024 60.3% 2025 60% Caruana: 'Labour's socialist heart still beating' Finance minister lays into PN legacy of austerity in tribute to Labour's social budget against rising energy prices