Government to present Budget 2026 on 27 October

The government will be presenting the budget for 2026 on, Prime Minister Robert Abela announced Saturday.

Speaking during a Labour Party activity in Kennedy Grove, Salini, Abela said that the budget – which he described as the “fourth of the five” in this legislation – would once again see tax reductions and an increase in social services.

Other countries are facing austerity, he told the crowd, but the Maltese government is in a position to give more.

They are not easy times, he said, but the country’s economic activities have accelerated also because of the government’s competence to manoeuvre around the difficulties.

We have the means to distribute to the people, but will not do so with political parties, he said in obvious reference to suggestions made from the Opposition for the State to sustain political parties financially.

Detractors will say that this will be an election budget, Abela said, adding that “We have had election budgets one after the other”.

“Prepare yourselves for more,” he said, also indicating that the subsidies that the government has been giving to keep the price of fuel, energy and gas stable will continue to be given.

He said Parliament will resume on Monday after the shortest summer break for the government to continue implementing laws, the first of which will be related to more discipline on the roads.

“We get things done,” PM Abela said, adding that the government will be increasing the pace of the implementation of its programme.

He mentioned the government’s success in creating jobs. “These days jobs chase people, not the other way round,” he said.

Abela also referred to the health sector, saying the government has invested heavily to make things easier for patients. He mentioned a prostate cancer patient who told him about a “more effective” treatment which meant less suffering, another who no longer needs to travel to England for treatment which is now available in Malta, and having carers who are able to give assistance to families who have children with severe disabilities.

Progress does not only mean a good economy, the PM said. It also means improvement in civil rights, a sector which the government had excelled in. Reforms will continue, he said, because there is still a lot more that needs to be done in this area.

“We are not the party of the status quo,” he said, mentioning other changes that the Labour government had introduced, such as IVF care for couples and Vote 16.

He said that between January and August, 350 people had been deported because they did not follow the country’s rules. “We are a hospitable country,” he said, but our laws need to be respected.

Pilot project in Swieqi and Valletta

Deputy Prime Minister Foreign Affairs and Tourism Minister Ian Borg, speaking during the same activity, said that the government will be launching a pilot project with two local councils to deal with challenges brought about by an increase in tourism.

Without acknowledging that he was referring to over-tourism, Borg said the mayors of Valletta and Swieqi will be asked to take part in this initiative which will serve to find out ways how such challenges – including waste and noise – could be tackled.

He said that after the change of leadership in the Nationalist Party, the opposition has the chance to turn a new leaf. For many years the PN endorsed politics of hate and immaturity, but now it has the chance to show that is has changed. “Time will tell,” he said. “The country needs an opposition that gives a positive contribution.”

The other Labour Party deputy leader, Alex Agius Saliba, also referred to the election of Alex Borg as the new PN leader, saying that he should direct his MEPs not to cause damage to Malta’s reputation on an international level.

If he really means it when he says that he wants unity, the PN should stop causing damage to Malta, he said.