The local mood over the economy has turned blacker in the past six months, with widespread concern being expressed over rising prices, according to a new EU survey.
The survey, carried out last year, shows that high inflation and the expected rise in utility prices have deepened the feeling of doom and gloom that was already in evidence last spring.
The Eurobarometer survey was published in Brussels yesterday. Three-quarters of its Maltese respondents described the current state of the economy as "bad" - an increase of 10 percentage points when compared to spring, the last time the biannual survey was carried out.
Only 22 per cent thought the economy was performing well, 10 percentage points less than six months ago.
Asked how the country was currently being managed, the majority, 43 per cent, said "things are going in the wrong direction" while 29 per cent felt it was "neither good nor bad". Only 25 per cent said that Malta was moving in the right direction.
Significantly, when asked about what they thought were the two biggest issues facing the country at the moment, the majority, 41 per cent, cited the rising cost of living.
The second most important issue mentioned was illegal immigration (34 per cent).
However, when people were asked to name the issue which affected them most on a personal level, inflation shot up to 60 per cent, outperforming all other issues by far.
In second place as an issue of personal concern was energy (29 per cent), reflecting the worry over the impending upward revision of water and electricity tariffs.
Asked about their outlook for the next 12 months, the respondents did not show much signs of optimism either. A relative majority, 32 per cent, said they expected the economy to perform even worse than in the current year, while 31 per cent were expecting unemployment to rise.
Those predicting an improvement fell sharply when compared to the previous survey, with only 18 per cent expecting a better economic performance and 21 per cent a stronger employment market.
The overall gloomy outlook also seems to have made an impact on how the Maltese look at the EU. The number of those who said that Malta's membership was a good thing fell by 12 percentage points down to 45 per cent.
On the other hand, the majority of the Maltese still think that the island has benefitted overall from EU membership.
In the EU in general, the survey reveals that for Europeans unemployment is the most important issue facing their own country, while concerns about the economic situation have lessened slightly. However, a majority still believes the worst of the crisis is yet to come.