In a moment in time when our parliamentarians have had the courage to enhance their weekly pay packet in such a hefty manner and now members of our judiciary are clamouring to do the same, I cannot but point out that “ensuring an adequate minimum income in old age is decisive for preventing and tackling poverty among the elderly”.

This is particularly more so now that we are living in such a serious financial world crisis that is bound to affect us in one way or another.

As Budget Day draws near, a genuine assessment needs to be done to estimate what an adequate minimum income in old age should be .

This could be done by defining a national basket of essential goods and services older people require. Such an exercise would ideally be broken down by gender and age, say, 60 to 79 and 80 years and over, and whether an old person is living on his own or not in a one-person household. Surely, such an assessment would help establish what an adequate minimum income in old age should be to lift the vulnerable old from the 22 per cent risk of poverty rate experienced in Malta to a more respectable and dignified situation tomorrow.