Tag: government

  • Explained: How Malta’s Government Makes And Spends Your Money

    Explained: How Malta’s Government Makes And Spends Your Money

    • Malta’s government income comes from two sources: taxes (€6.9 billion) and non-tax revenues (€620 million), like EU grants and administrative fees. Total tax revenues have more than doubled since 2014.
    • Income Tax (€2.85 billion), social security contributions (€1.64 billion), and VAT (€1.6 billion) make up the bulk of tax revenues.
    • Maltese households provide nearly two-thirds of all income tax collected.
    • All government revenues are deposited into the Consolidated Fund, Malta’s central bank account, which receives and distributes funds. Malta’s total income is  €7.5 billion.
    • Malta’s total spending or expenditure is €8.3 billion. This means the Consolidated Fund operates at a deficit, which means it spends more than its income.
    • For 2025, budget estimates forecasted €7.3 billion in recurrent costs, or the day-to-day expenses of running a government, and €1 billion in capital investment.
    • The largest spending areas are
      • Social Security: €1.5 billion or 23% of all spending (Pensions separately cost around €105 million)
      • Health: €1.3 billion
      • Education: €1 billion
      • Social Policy: €739 million
      • Environment & Energy: €685 million (which includes the €152 million for energy subsidies)
    • Salaries, allowances and overtime for all government employees, including MPs and Authority heads, totalled €1.47 billion. The largest payrolls are at the Ministry for Health (472 million), Education (374 million) and the Police (102 million).
    • The government earmarked €220 million for third-party contracts and €25 million for consultancy and professional fees.
    • The total Consolidated Fund deficit has reduced over the years. However, total government debt continues to increase. Latest figures show it stands at €11 billion, or 46% of GDP, up €1 billion from the previous year. 

    Each year, the red briefcase appears, the finance minister rises, and the word “budget” dominates the news. Behind the ritual lies a simple question: how exactly does Malta’s government make and spend its money?

    The answer involves billions of euros and thousands of line items but one key idea: money comes in through taxes, flows through ministries and programmes, and circles back as salaries, benefits, and infrastructure.

    Ahead of the 2026 edition, this guide breaks down the estimates from Malta’s 2025 budget into three parts: where the money comes from, how it’s spent, and how the country manages the gap between the two.

    How does the government make its money?

    Malta’s government revenue and financing is made up of taxes, non-tax revenues, and borrowing: the three pillars of state financing.

    1. Taxes: the backbone of government income

    The government’s primary financial engine is its residents and businesses.

    According to the 2025 budget estimates, total tax revenue is estimated at just under €6.9 billion. 

    Malta’s tax revenues have increased significantly over the last decade or so, coinciding with population and migration growth. In 2013, tax revenues stood at nearly €2.5 billion and reached around €5.6 billion by 2023.

    Tax revenues are split into direct and indirect taxes.

    Direct taxes, the largest share, are made up of income tax (€2.85 billion) and social security contributions (€1.64 billion). Together, these make up about 65%* of all tax revenues and roughly half of total government revenue.

    The latest official data shows that in 2023 alone, households contributed €1.5 billion, or almost two-thirds of all income tax collected. The closest contributors are non-financial corporations (€449 million) and financial corporations (€407 million).

    The largest indirect tax is sales tax, or Value Added Tax (VAT), which is estimated to generate around €1.6 billion in 2025.

    Here is a breakdown of tax income:

    Direct:

    • Income Tax: €2,848,000,000
    • Social Security: €1,642,000,000

    Indirect: 

    • Customs and Excise Duties: €329,000,000
    • Licenses, Taxes and Fines: €467,000,000
    • Value Added Tax: €1,611,000,000

    Other government income:

    Beyond taxes, the government expects to collect around €620 million in non-tax revenues in 2025.

    The largest component is grants, mainly EU funding, which support a range of projects, including infrastructure, agriculture, integration, and security initiatives. In 2025, grants are expected to total more than €288 million.

    The next biggest slice is “Fees of Office”, forecast at €112.6 million for 2025, which covers a range of administrative income, fees, and charges from government institutions. 

    Two key contributors here are the Residency Malta Agency (€30 million) and the Granting of Citizenship for Exceptional Services (€30 million). However, this is expected to change following an EU court order ending the citizenship-by-investment programme. 

    The government also earns dividends from state investments, projected at more than €58 million in 2025, up from €44 million in 2023 but slightly down from 2024’s €61.7 million.

    How the Government Spends Its Money

    The Consolidated Fund:

    All revenue, with limited expectations, including your taxes and social contributions, flows into Malta’s Consolidated Fund.

    Think of it as the government’s main bank account, the source of funding for everything from urban greening to hospital maintenance, divided each year among ministries, agencies, and public services through the budget.

    The Consolidated Fund operates at a deficit, meaning it spends more than it receives in income. It is expected to stand at almost €744 million in 2025, slightly below 2024’s €771 million.

    Recurrent and Capital Expenditure:

    In 2025, total recurrent expenditure, the everyday cost of running government and its services, is projected at €7.3 billion . Another €1 billion is earmarked for capital expenditure, long-term investment in infrastructure, schools, and hospitals.

    By 2027, total recurrent expenditure is expected to rise to near €8.9 billion.

    Government expenditure is grouped into four main categories. Together, they tell you how the €7.3 billion in recurrent spending is distributed.

    Programmes and Initiatives dominate the budget, covering subsidies, grants, and social spending, accounting for roughly 60%.

    The largest beneficiaries of programmes are:

    • Social Security: €1.6 billion
    • Social Policy: €544 million
    • Health Ministry: €397 million
    • Environment and Energy Ministry: €320 million (including €152 million for energy subsidies)
    • Finance Ministry:  €230 million.
    • Active Ageing:  €145 million.
    • Transport Ministry: €135 million.
    • Pensions (for civil servants etc.): €105 million

    Out of the €1.6 billion spent on social security benefits:

    • €833.8 million is retirement pensions
    • €200 million is widows’ pensions 
    • €147 million is under a bonus 
    • €90 million is under the children’s allowance

    However, this is funded through social security contributions. An additional €105 million is earmarked for pensions.

    That means that a total of €1.38 billion is spent on pensions.

    Personal Emoluments are salaries, allowances, overtime, and social contributions for civil servants and political officeholders, including MPs and Cabinet members. Around 21% of spending.

    The largest payrolls are at the Ministry for Health (€473 million), Education (€375 million) and the Police (€102 million).

    Operational and Maintenance Expenses include utilities, rent, repairs, travel, professional services, and administrative costs. These include the €220.8 million for third-party contracts and €25.7 million for consultancy and professional fees.

    Contributions to Government Entities, such as state corporations and authorities, absorb the remaining €925 million.

    Capital Expenditure:

    The government also sets aside ‘Capital Expenditure’ in the budget. Capital Expenditure is public investment in more durable assets, such as infrastructure and major projects.

    The largest spenders by capital expenditure are:

    Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Public Cleanliness (includes EU Funds)€235,115,000
    Office of the Prime Minister€109,437,000
    Ministry for Health and Active Ageing€88,792,000
    Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation€88,074,000
    Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights€80,776,000

    Total spend:

    The 2025 Budget distributes these billions across Malta’s ministries. The Ministry for Health and Active Ageing takes the lead (€1.5 billion), followed by the Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation (€1 billion) and the Ministry for  Social Policy and Children’s Rights (€739 million). 

    Top 5 ministries account for well over half of all government spending:

    Ministry for Health and Active Ageing€1,528,987,000
    Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation€1,032,426,000
    Ministry for Social Policy and Children’s Rights€739,235,000
    Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Public Cleanliness€685,316,550
    Ministry for Finance€449,409,000
    Ministry for Home Affairs, Security and Employment€448,576,000

    Social security & Pensions: the single largest item

    No programme consumes more money than Social Security Benefits, budgeted at €1.6 billion in 2025, roughly one euro in every five spent.

    Out of the €1.6 billion spent on social security benefits:

    • €833.8 million is retirement pensions
    • €200 million is widows’ pensions 
    • €147 million is under a bonus 
    • €90 million is under the children’s allowance

    However, this is funded through social security contributions. An additional €105 million is earmarked for pensions for civil servants and other public personnel.

    The Ministry for Social Policy oversees another €553 million in social spending.

    Healthcare follows as the second-largest area of expenditure, with €1.1 billion in allocations for 2025. Within that:

    • Within that Active Ageing alone accounts for €305 million. That includes long-term institutional care and community care.
    • Hospitals like Mater Dei, Mount Carmel, Gozo General, Karin Grech, and St. Vincent de Paul: €265 million
    • Primary healthcare and community services: €73 million

    The next is education. The Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation receives €485 million, with an extra €459 million earmarked for Education-specific spending. The total budget exceeds €1 billion.

    Other major recipients include the Ministry for Environment, Energy and Public Cleanliness at €685 million, which includes the €152 million spent on support measures to keep energy prices stable.

    Meanwhile, Malta’s spending on research and innovation as a share of its GDP is the second-lowest in the EU and has decreased since 2013.

    Security, Local Councils and Justice

    Despite being fundamental to shaping daily life, security, justice, and local government receive relatively small shares of the overall pie.

    The Police were earmarked €110 million for 2025, around 1.5% of total expenditure. However, that is mostly spent on salaries, overtime and allowances, despite relatively little changes in personnel.

    The Armed Forces (€86 million or 1.1%) and Civil Protection (€13.9 million or 0.1%) are provided with even less.

    Local councils, in particular, operate close to residents and are on the front lines of community issues, but command less than 1% of total expenditure with €64 million earmarked for 2025.

    The Ministry for Justice, which also includes the reform of the construction sector beyond its responsibilities over the courts (which have the worst delays in Europe) has a total budget of €77 million, around 1% of total spending.

    Deficit and Government debt

    Malta’s budget operates at a deficit, meaning the government spends more than it earns. To cover this gap, it borrows money. For 2025, Local Loans, the primary source of covering Malta’s debts, are estimated at €1.5 billion.

    Malta’s government has consistently reduced its deficit. The general government deficit declined from 4.7% in 2023 to 3.7% in 2024 and is projected to decrease further to 2.8% in 2026.

    Still, public debt servicing, which covers the interest and principal repayments on its outstanding debt, is rising:

    2023: €696 million
    2024: €787 million
    2025: €886.6 million
    Projected by 2027: €1.3 billion

    According to the budget estimates for 2025, €312 million is allocated for interest public debt payments alone.

    By the end of 2024, total government debt was around €10.6 billion, equivalent to 46.2% of GDP. It was up by €821.2 million from the previous year.

    As of the end of August 2025, debt stood at €11.1 billion, an increase of €1.1 billion from the same time last year.

    Here is a breakdown of spend per Ministry, showing at which sectors the state supports, and which pressures it prioritises:

    MinistryEstimateCapital Expenditure
    Ministry for Health and Active Ageing1,528,987,00088,792,000
    Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation1,032,426,00088,074,000
    Ministry for Social Policy and Children’s Rights739,235,0007,943,000
    Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Public Cleanliness685,316,550235,115,000
    Ministry for Finance449,409,00074,621,000
    Ministry for Home Affairs, Security and Employment448,576,00072,767,000
    Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure and Public Works328,204,00054,078,000
    Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Tourism240,384,75810,752,000
    Ministry for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government210,187,00063,210,000
    Office of the Prime Minister209,175,859109,437,000
    Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights144,378,00080,776,000
    Ministry for the Economy, Enterprise and Strategic Projects141,257,00077,359,000
    Ministry for Gozo and Planning93,109,00015,203,000
    Ministry for Justice and Reform of the Construction Sector77,253,1089,899,000
    Ministry for Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector63,195,0003,531,000
    Ministry for Social and Affordable Accommodation55,598,000348,000
    Ministry for Lands and the Implementation of the Electoral Programme24,700,00010,121,000

  • Hired Hands: How Malta’s Government Spent €290 Million on Private Security and Labour Providers

    Hired Hands: How Malta’s Government Spent €290 Million on Private Security and Labour Providers

    By Julian Delia (cap.mt), Sabrina Zammit, Daiva Repečkaitė and Julian Bonnici

    • Total government expenditure on private security and labour services (2013 – 2024): €293 million.
    • The top 5 companies earned €270 million (92.2%).
      • G4S: €150 million (51.2%)
      • Signal 8: €60 million (20.4%)
      • Kerber: €28 million (9.6%)
      • Executive: €23 million (8%)
      • Grange: €9 million (3%)
    • Research points toward questionable public procurement practices, including but not limited to:
      • Direct orders above the €10,000 limit.
      • Some contractors with direct access to lucrative public contracts have a documented history of questionable practices and/or brushes with the law.
      • A total of 71 contractual variations in favour of the bidder after the tender is awarded.
      • Connections between former and current politicians and government representatives, with a high volume of former AFM and police force officials.

    You’ve seen them somewhere at least once.

    Maybe it was a hospital, a school, or a car park. Government buildings, or entertainment venues like theatres and clubs.

    For an island of Malta’s size, private security companies have a heavy presence wherever you look.

    Despite its ubiquity, the private security industry rarely attracts media scrutiny, not unless a bouncer severely injures a random partygoer in Paceville.

    In January, a joint investigation published by The Critical Angle Project and Amphora Media revealed that one security company alone secured almost €4 million in public procurement contracts over a period of less than a decade.

    Today, we can further reveal that since the Labour Party swept to power in 2013, the government has spent a total of at least €293 million on services from companies involved in the private security industry.

    In 2021 and 2023, the government spent more on acquiring services from these companies than it spent on salaries and wages at the police force and the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM).

    To better understand this comparison, we consulted with a veteran of the police force regarding our findings. The source was granted anonymity to speak candidly.

    “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the devolution of some of the police force’s duties to civilians or private security personnel, especially with low-risk assignments like a public garden. We don’t need the police force to do everything, everywhere, which is what we used to do before,” our source said.

    “Problems arise if the public procurement process rewards the same companies without any real competition. This, along with the failure to enforce adequate standards among security personnel, can form part of the kind of abusive practice that harms the integrity of the public service,” the source added.

    There are 27 companies with a security license and an active presence in the market – 16 of those companies were recipients of public contracts.

    While some of those companies focus entirely on providing security services, others also provide additional personnel specialisations ranging from cleaning to engineering to seafaring.

    The total cited in this article refers to all contracts assigned to the license-holding companies we identified. Our analysis reveals that the private security sector’s largest companies have claimed the lion’s share of public procurement.

    Out of the total pot of €293 million, €270 million went to G4S Security Services, Signal 8 Security Services, Kerber Security, Executive Security, and Grange Security.

    Those five companies alone claimed 92% of all the public contracts examined in this analysis.

    At the number one spot, the market’s polarisation becomes even more pronounced. In total, G4S earned €150 million – more than the rest of the top five combined. At the other end of the top five, Grange Security earned €9 million.

    The remaining €23 million was distributed to a total of eleven companies.

    The findings of our January investigation called into question the rigour of standards set for the industry. The company’s owner and director we investigated is a convicted sex offender and is known to be close to Gozo minister Clint Camilleri.

    This instance of questionable standards is not an isolated case in this industry. Our analysis points towards questionable public procurement protocols and operators as well as a high level of overlap between the private security industry and former AFM and police force officials close to the Labour Party.

    While not every company can be painted with the same brush, the number of red flags we found remains significant.

    Questions were sent directly to the office of the prime minister prior to publication to discuss these issues.

    G4S: The lion’s share

    The largest company among them is G4S, which the De Martino family owns through a holding company named KDM Investments Ltd. G4S was first registered in Malta in 1998.

    According to the company’s CEO, its global operations involve over 900,000 employees under the licence of G4S International.

    G4S Malta’s executive chairperson and single largest shareholder is Kenneth De Martino.

    A photo of Kenneth De Martino from 2016. Photo: DataByte Facebook page

    G4S’ CEO, Edward Chetcuti, responded to our questions.

    Chetcuti noted that G4S Malta is one of Malta’s largest employers, emphasising that 94% of his company’s 1,650 employees in Malta are locals. He further claimed that “circa 70%” of the country’s cash circulation and ATMs are managed by G4S.

    When asked to comment specifically on the large amount of direct orders and tenders assigned to G4S, Chetcuti stated that G4S “has indeed delivered a substantial amount of security services to public entities.”

    “It is significant to note that as a result of our participation in the public tenders and the subsequent delivery of public services, over 90% of all our revenue is redirected directly to our workforce by way of salaries. These figures reflect our role as a major employer and contributor to the local economy,” Chetcuti claimed.

    “Like any other company we have a substantial amount of overheads that are required to deliver these services which are also recovered through the revenue generated from these contracts, leaving a marginal operating profit,” he added.

    Chetcuti maintains that “all public contracts awarded to G4S Malta and any subsequent negotiated procedures have been secured through the official procurement process under procurement regulations and duly approved by the contracting authorities.”

    Signal 8: The former SMU officer

    While G4S claims the top spot, Signal 8 Security comes in second with a public procurement market share of €60 million, 20% of the contracts under analysis.

    Signal 8 is owned by former Special Mobile Unit officer Joseph ‘Jovan’ Grech. Besides owning Signal 8, Grech is also listed as a consultant for Conflict International, a London-based private investigations firm.

    In addition, Grech is the sole shareholder of a Malta-registered company named Kelis Rayel Company Ltd. The company operates El Doris Boutique Living, a boutique hotel in Marsaskala that is subject to a pending planning application.

    Grech did not respond to our questions directly when contacted.

    A still from a social media promo from 2019 featuring Joseph ‘Jovan’ Grech. Video: Signal 8 Facebook page

    However, Signal 8’s managing director Julian Dimech – along with G4S’ CEO and Kerber Security’s Stefan Axisa – did respond via a joint statement from the newly formed Malta Private Security Association (MPSA).

    Set up to “promote and safeguard its members’ interests by advocating pro-industry policies and legislation,” the MPSA’s stated goals are “to prevent the exploitation of employees” and “to foster an industry that values integrity, protects workers, and contributes to a healthy and ethical labour market.”

    The strip club owner

    A screenshot from Kerber Security’s website featuring a stylised photo of Ronald Axisa

    Kerber Security is a  Maltese company owned by Ronald Axisa. Kerber claims just shy of 10% of the public procurement contracts under analysis, which amounts to €28 million since 2013.

    Axisa also owns a strip club named Stiletto, located in Paceville. Stefan Axisa is his son, and was one of the individuals responding to our questions on behalf of the MPSA.

    Despite the MPSA’s claim that its members wish to “contribute to a healthy and ethical labour market,” the track record of Kerber’s employees raises questions.

    In October of last year, two unlicensed bouncers employed by Kerber – Ivan Marjanovic and Milos Stojkovic – were released on bail after pleading not guilty to grievously injuring a group of youths in Paceville.

    Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech had ordered JobsPlus to investigate Kerber and the establishments where they were working to determine whether they were employed legally.

    Questions sent to Jobsplus about the outcome of that investigation were redirected through the public service’s customer support page and remained unanswered at publication time.

    In January 2024, another Kerber employee, Ryan Zammit, was among a group of bouncers who were accused of causing grievous harm to a Sudanese student in Paceville. Zammit was further accused of operating without a license.

    In 2020, three months into the COVID-19 pandemic, a news report published by Lovin Malta linked Kerber Security to the government’s inhumane offshore detention centres.

    The government had confirmed that the whole operation cost taxpayers around €1.7 million but did not confirm Kerber’s involvement until an FOI request was filed.

    “A direct order was commissioned to Kerber Security to provide security services on the four vessels chartered to accommodate illegal immigrants between April and June 2020 during the time when Maltese ports were closed off due to COVID-19,” the home affairs ministry’s response stated.

    “The security company was chosen because at the time of the operation it was offering services at the Marsa Initial Reception Centre, and could therefore provide a service in the shortest possible time,” it added.

    In April, the constitutional court awarded €20,000 in non-pecuniary damages to nine asylum seekers who were detained in these offshore centres, declaring that the conditions the government detained them in were inhumane.

    A comparison of the company’s annual accounts with the revenue they generated from public procurement shows a high degree of dependence on government contracts; particularly from 2020 – 2023.

    Questions were sent to Kerber Security for clarification about their involvement in the Captain Morgan saga and the volume of public contracts they received. No responses were received from Kerber or the Office of the Prime Minister by publication time.

    Executive Security: The ex-AFM official

    With a total of 8% of the contracts tracked for this analysis, Executive Security was the only firm that threatened immediate legal action as a result of our queries.

    “Your allegations are incorrect and are clearly intended to provide a prejudiced narrative. Under these circumstances, we warn you that if you persist in publishing untruthful facts about us, we will proceed against you for the damages you would cause us,” Executive’s owner, Stephen Ciangura, wrote in a brief response.

    A photo of Stephen Ciangura posing with one of his racing horses. Photo: Facebook

    Further questions were sent to substantiate this website’s findings. Ciangura was invited to explain where he believes our reporting is incorrect.

    His partner, Georgiana Lupu, is listed as the sole shareholder for Gold Guard Security. Lupu claimed that this website’s reporting was inaccurate.

    Our analysis shows that Gold Guard was awarded a total of €7 million in public contracts since it was set up in 2015. Executive Security was set up in 2008.

    In 2016, news reports confirmed that Ciangura – who served as a lance bombardier in the Armed Forces of Malta – was not formally given permission to obtain a security license by the AFM.

    Ciangura’s profile in the press was elevated when he became Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s personal security guard – with the Labour Party publicly claiming they were paying for the extra security afforded to the former Nationalist MP turned Rwandan ambassador.

    The other 11%

    Given that it is virtually impossible to include further detail about every company we investigated without making this investigation too unwieldy to read, we summarised the rest of our more pertinent findings.

    You may also find all of the data we referred to at the bottom of this article:

    • Questionable public procurement practices: as can be ascertained by our data further below, we tracked dozens of direct orders which went above the €10,000 limit and noted several variations across multiple tenders.
    • Grange Security: obtaining 3% of the total pot of public funding under analysis, Grange Security’s annual accounts also indicate a high degree of dependence on government funding.
    • OZO Group: earning a total of €8.3 million from contracts awarded to its subsidiaries, the Zammit Tabona-owned labour services company provided detailed answers to our queries about its operations.
    • Protection Services: owned by former AFM lance corporal Jason Pisani, this firm made a relatively small amount of money from public procurement when compared with its larger competitors: we tracked around €2 million in total.

      When asked for a general comment about public contracts related to his company, Pisani deflected and told this website he could instead “give a detailed description and info about companies that earned hundreds of millions in that period.”

      Pressed to comment further about his own slice of the pie, he refused to provide a comment for this joint investigation, accusing us of “attempting to involve (him) in a political inquiry.”

    The data

    G4S (tenders) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/22682911/

    G4S (DOs) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/22682983/

    Signal 8 (tenders) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21812317/

    Signal 8 (DOs) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21812281/

    Kerber (tenders) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/22492637/

    Kerber (DOs) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/22492631/

    Executive (tenders) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21812156/

    Executive (DOs) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21812065/

    Grange (tenders) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21812392/

    Grange (DOs) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21812344/

    OZO (tenders) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/22492612/

    OZO (DOs) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/22492602/

    Gold Guard (tenders) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21812248/

    Gold Guard (DOs) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21812202/

    Protection Services (tenders) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/22683225/ 

    Protection Services (DOs) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/22683273/ 

    JK Security (tenders, DOs) https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/22683304/