The overwhelming majority of Maltese are optimistic this year will be a positive one both for the country and on a personal level, according to the results of a new Eurobarometer survey.
At the same time, people seem to be rapidly losing their trust in politicians, including the government, which has seen its credibility fall to 48 per cent from 59 per cent in May.
The latest EU-wide survey, conducted twice yearly, was held in Malta by Misco during the first two weeks of November – incidentally during the same period when the government presented the 2014 Budget. A total of 500 scientifically selected respondents took part.
In general, the results portray a much more optimistic picture of the population’s perceptions of Malta’s economic prospects compared with the results of the spring survey, conducted in May.
According to the results, the overwhelming majority of Maltese, 71 per cent, described the current state of the economy as being in good shape, an increase of nine per cent over spring.
At the same time, 42 per cent are expecting the economy to be even better this year, an increase of seven per cent.
On the other hand, those describing the economy as being ‘bad’ decreased by nine per cent since May, down to just 19 per cent.
Only seven per cent said they are expecting the economy to get worse.
On a personal level, particularly when it comes to the state of their finances, the majority of Maltese are also optimistic.
While 75 per cent described their household’s financial situation in 2013 as ‘good’, a total of 30 per cent are expecting it to be even better this year, an increase of nine per cent over May.
Majority do not trust politicians
In contrast, the survey shows that during the past six months, people have continued to lose trust in politicians, particularly the government.
While in May, two months after the change in administration, 59 per cent of respondents said they trusted the government, the level of trust in November was down to 48 per cent.
During the same period those stating that they did not trust the government increased by eight per cent, reaching 33 per cent in November.
This distrust was also reflected in other political areas.
Parliament, which is the most trusted political institution in the country, saw its trust levels down to 51 per cent, 11 percentage points down from May.
The biggest losers however were political parties, which saw their trust fall 19 points in six months to just 27 per cent.
According to the Eurobarometer, 53 per cent have no trust in political parties.