The proposal to reduce the salaries of the sovereign bodies and senior State leaders, approved by the Council of Ministers last week1, will allow for a reduction in the salary bill of about MT 118.84 million per month, which amounts to an annual value of M T1.46 billion. This reduction is still quite insignificant to achieve the sustainability of the State payroll.
In order to eliminate the deficit in wages and salaries, the Government needs to cut around MT 12.35 billion per year. The measures announced will allow the reduction of only 12% of this amount.
The proposed wage cuts have been in parliament since 25 May this year and are due to be debated from this Tuesday, 30 May 2023.
The proposal essentially aims to revise downwards the remuneration and representation allowances of Members of Parliament, Secretaries of State, Ministers, Deputy-Ministers, among other staff and members of public bodies.
The Government proposes to change the tax base for the salaries of members of parliament from 75% to 57.5% and the representation allowance from 30% to 15%; the salaries of ministers, counsellor judges of the Supreme Court, Administrative Court and Constitutional Council, and deputy public prosecutors are proposed to be reduced from 75% to 67.5% and the representation allowance from 30 to 15%.
For the members of the provincial assemblies, the proposal consists of reducing the salary base from 30% to 12.5% and the representation allowance from 10% to 5%.
