Malta’s wage supplement is set to be extended for some sectors beyond January as the Prime Minister predicts the island is entering warmer waters in the near future.

Saying the wage supplement scheme was a “game changer” that had already been extended till this month, he announced that it would be extended beyond January for certain sectors, promising his administration would continue to monitor it as needed over the coming months.

Abela said the government has spent four billion euro on direct help for families and businesses over the last few months, with around half the private sector’s jobs being “saved” by this support.

“How good it is to plan ahead, to give your word and to keep it. People know where they are with us,” Abela said while being interviewed on Labour’s ONE Radio today.

He maintained that investors already knew what great opportunities they could look forward in the near future.

“Here, we have a clear plan. A plan for how we want to leave Malta to our children, a plan we brought forward in October and that we are now intensifying in our implementation of,” he said.

He said his administration had spent the entire pandemic thinking about how to protect people’s health, but also their quality of life.

“Last year, we began the road to recovery and this year we want to strengthen that,” saying this approach was the “recipe” to find a balance between health and the economy.

He noted that other countries were facing rises in prices associated with essential goods like fuel and energy, leading to pressures on families and businesses abroad, something Malta has been able to avoid by planning ahead for.

He once again praised the vaccine and booster rollout across the island. saying this would lead the country back to normality.

“The vaccine gave us a summer and autumn close to normality. Now, we need to have the rest of winter but even more importantly a spring that is even better than those months we’ve just passed through. This is how the economy recovers and we continue our social lives. This is how we protect the health of the Maltese.”