Budget Barometer 2027
How Malta received Budget 2027. Esprimi’s annual survey after every Budget, published in five releases, with the full results and method on this page.
Few fear for their own pocket, a third fear for Malta
expect the Budget to leave Malta worse off over the coming year
expect it to leave their own household worse off
Maltese adults are more satisfied than dissatisfied with Budget 2027, but they are far more worried about what it means for the country than for themselves.
At home, the most common expectation is no change at all. Almost half (48%) expect their household to be about the same over the coming year, 36% expect to be better off and only 15% expect to be worse off. Asked about Malta as a whole, opinion splits: 39% expect the country to be better off, while 35% expect it to be worse off, more than twice the share who fear for their own household.
Will the Budget leave you, and Malta, better or worse off over the coming year?
- Much worse off
- Somewhat worse off
- About the same
- Somewhat better off
- Much better off
- Don’t know
Average score: 3.1 for Malta and 3.3 for the household, out of 5 (1 = much worse off, 5 = much better off; don’t know excluded)
Question wording and base
“Thinking about you and your household, do you expect the Budget for 2027 to leave you better off, worse off or about the same over the coming year?” “Thinking about the country in general, do you expect the Budget for 2027 to leave Malta better off, worse off or about the same over the coming year?”
Base: Maltese adults aware of the Budget measures, n=399. Weighted to the 2026 general election result.
Overall, 40% are satisfied with the Budget and 30% dissatisfied, with the rest neither. Confidence in how the economy is being run is weaker: 32% say they have confidence in the Government’s management of the economy, while 44% do not.
Overall satisfaction with Budget 2027
- Very dissatisfied
- Dissatisfied
- Neither
- Satisfied
- Very satisfied
Average score: 3.2 out of 5 (1 = very dissatisfied, 5 = very satisfied)
Question wording and base
“Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the Budget for 2027?”
Base: Maltese adults aware of the Budget measures, n=399. Weighted.
“I have confidence in the way the Government is managing the economy”
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neither
- Agree
- Strongly agree
Average score: 2.8 out of 5 (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree)
Question wording and base
“How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement? “I have confidence in the way the Government is managing the economy.””
Base: all Maltese adults, n=400. Weighted.
How people like you answered
Choose a group to see each of the four headline scores. Each score is the share giving a positive answer minus the share giving a negative one.
Groups with fewer than 30 respondents are not shown. Weighted.
Published Monday 9 November 2026.
Published Wednesday 11 November 2026.
Published Friday 13 November 2026.
Published Sunday 15 November 2026.
How we did it
Independent in method. Transparent in sponsor. The Budget Barometer is funded by Esprimi itself. It was not commissioned or paid for by any political party, government body, business organisation or client. Esprimi describes what people said; it takes no position on the Budget or its measures.
- Who
- 400 Maltese citizens aged 18 and over, living in Malta and Gozo.
- When
- 29 October to 2 November 2026, in the week after the Budget speech of 26 October.
- How
- Online questionnaire, with respondents invited through the Esprimi panel and through social media. Median completion time was nine minutes.
- Weighting
- Results are weighted by how respondents voted in the general election of 30 May 2026, so that the sample reflects the official result. Three in ten respondents preferred not to say how they voted; their answers are included without adjustment.
- Precision
- For a random sample of this size, the margin of error would be about ±5 percentage points at 95% confidence; for smaller groups it is wider. As with all online panels, this is indicative.
- Companion survey
- 122 non-EU residents took part in a companion survey, promoted mainly through social media and community channels. Their results are reported separately and unweighted, and describe the people who took part.
- Annual series
- The Barometer is published every year after the Budget. The core questions stay the same from year to year; the rest follow each Budget’s main measures.
Weighting moves the overall results by up to 4 points and does not change any finding. Before weighting, for example, satisfaction with the Budget stood at +13 and confidence in the Government’s management of the economy at −9; after weighting they are +11 and −12. Average scores are shown to one decimal place. Figures may not add up exactly because of rounding.
The team
The study was led by Vanessa Bajada, Director of Research, with Kelly Mifsud Bonavia, Senior Research Executive. Morgan Parnis is Esprimi’s CEO.
Corrections
Published results are not altered afterwards. Any correction is logged here with its date. No corrections to date.
Esprimi Research Limited is an independent market research company in Malta, established in 2013. Its Chief Executive is a member of ESOMAR, and the company works to the ICC/ESOMAR International Code.