Postal rates will rise substantially on Monday, with further increases following on April 1.

Domestic registered mail will cost 90c, up from 49c, while international registered mail will increase to €2.25 from €1.40.

Advice of delivery on international registered mail will now cost €1.75, an increase of €1.14.

Other rates that will change in April include domestic postage, up 6c to 26c for a letter weighing up to 50 grams and 32c for a letter up to 100 grams. Each additional 50g will cost 20c, an increase of 11c.

In accepting the request for increases, the Malta Communications Authority noted that Maltapost had been adversely affected by changes to the Universal Postal Union’s framework regulating cross border mail. This, coupled with declining volumes of domestic mail, “has put increasing pressures on the long-term sustainability of the service”, it said.

The communications watchdog said certain price changes were required to maintain the company’s sustainability.

The MCA said the revised postal tariffs “will generally remain affordable to users and continue to be among the lowest in the EU”.

It said: “The impact of postal tariff changes on household expenditure is expected to be minimal” and that the proposed changes were still affordable to businesses.

Earlier this year, Maltapost announced that its profit before tax had been halved to €796,000 in the six months to March, down from €1.69 million in same period last year.

Turnover had increased by 3.1 per cent to €11 million, up from €10.7 million.

Traditional mail volumes were on the decline, in line with trends across the world.

The company said its revenue streams were impacted by the considerable increase in direct mail costs due to changes in tariffs regulated by the Universal Postal Union.