Malta’s budget for 2023 was drawn up during an unprecedented energy crisis and relentless inflation. The world’s economy had also been stopped in its tracks following the global pandemic in 2022.
“The budget gives families and businesses certainty, helping them in their struggles and enabling them to plan their future,” Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said.
In fact, the budget was built around subsidies to keep energy prices frozen.
What does the 2023 budget mean for your energy bills?
A staggering 9.3 percent of the recurrent expenditure in Malta’s 2023 budget will be allocated to energy subsidies, up from 6.4 percent in 2022. Without this intervention, an average couple would have seen their energy bills go up by €1,300, Caruana said.
“Had we not frozen energy prices, inflation in Malta this year would be about the sixth or seventh highest in the EU. Economic growth would have been halved, you would have been asking me how many businesses are expected to close and how high unemployment is expected to reach,” Caruana told reporters.
The government said it envisioned this to be a long-term intervention, with subsidies expected to fall in 2025, to 5.5 percent.
Are there investment grants in the Malta 2023 budget?
Besides energy bill protection, businesses were also given several green incentives in the 2023 budget.
Companies that invest in digital and sustainable projects will be given 50 percent back, at a maximum of €100,000.
Businesses can benefit up to a maximum of €40,000 in tax credits when investing in digital projects, energy efficiency projects, and efficiency projects such as reducing the waste of raw materials or rubbish.
Gozitan businesses and start-ups will also receive an extra 10 percent in the form of tax credits, which can go up to 20 percent if companies reduce their operations’ carbon footprint.
Official guidelines will also be created by Malta Enterprise to help businesses Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) credentials.
How can businesses lower their energy bills even more?
The easiest way for businesses to lower energy bills is to reduce their energy use. It can be hard for businesses to know where to start.
ClearVUE.Zero lowers energy bills by providing real-time, granular data on a company’s energy and carbon use. It acts as a tool that monitors each machine’s output, looking at their emissions’ output and their cost. Our sustainability consultants analyse this data to guide companies towards lower bills and emissions.
Photo credit: DOI (main image) and Karl Paul Baldacchino on Unsplash (body image.)
