Opinion: Is Malta Becoming Too Expensive To Live In?
As living costs go nowadays, many seem to be wondering if it’s worth living in Malta, or if it’s becoming more and more difficult just to get by.
Although the recent €10 adjustment in the national cost of living was implemented with good intentions, sadly the general public is aware that this menial raise doesn’t actually amount to any improvement.
Scrolling countless pages on social media platforms quickly gives insight that the dubbed “working class” are finding it more than difficult just to get by, holding back on daily necessities rather than on commodities and other satisfying whims.
Prices of groceries, produce and other staple items within each household have risen to proportions where one ponders if actually, they can be bought or the need can be covered in some other way.
People have been more wary on where they shop whilst making cost-effective plans for simple day-to-day needs, eventually leading to stringent living.
Speaking to Lovin Malta, a learning support assistant and mother of two stated: “What was once a cheap dinner to make; a simple winter soup has become something of a luxury to cook with prices of produce becoming unaffordable to buy regularly”.
“We have greatly reduced buying fresh produce and meat, opting to buy more frozen quick meals both due to the cost and to the fact that we arrive home late and cooking takes time, time we simply don’t have on our hands”.
This is a heavy toll to bear when you compare the amount of time spent working to the actual pay you’ll end up earning.
Rather than finding time for your own self-care or self-improvement, one has to resort to adding more work hours to have some kind of steady financial assurance.
Apart from this, a great reduction in family-time raised issues where children are left for a longer period at care centres or with immediate family members till parents grind their bones at work.
This is not constructive and in fact regressive when we see other EU countries implementing more efficient working conditions in an attempt to improve the general quality of life and the amount spent on self-improvement or with families.
In general, something needs to be done and fast before addressing problems of mental welfare ensuing from burned out individuals goes out of proportion, being that it is well present in the majority of the public.
Realistically speaking the cost of living will always become more expensive, so rather than depending on the costs to drop, an effective alternate solution is to be devised by the government to factor decent earnings.
Are you finding it difficult to get by?