Cost of living allowances are not helping those who need it most, anti-poverty campaigners have warned.

Alleanza Kontra l-Faqar on Tuesday said that, “once again”, it felt the need to speak up about the way increases in allowances were not enough to support the poor.

“The way these increases are being calculated are not answering the needs of low earners, those on pensions, and those surviving on benefits,” the lobby group said.

According to the National Statistics Office, 17 per cent of Maltese lived in households with an income below the at-risk-of-poverty line in 2016.

The alliance said the increases were based on price indexes that did not really reflect the cost of living today.

Authorities base their calculations on the overall price of what is known as a basket of goods – the items they deem normal for a household to purchase.

READ: Poverty statistics vs reality

The alliance said this basket was often filled with items that lower income and poor could not afford and so the rates established by the exercise did not take into consideration the poorer in society.

“Because of their low income, these people will have to have a different basket of necessities and therefore will spend a greater portion of their income on necessities like food, rent, and - in the case of pensioners - medicines and health services that are sometimes not provided by the state,” the group said.

The lack of adequate price adjustment, they added, was actually creating more poverty as a result.

Alleanza Kontra l-Faqar urged the government to address this issue in the upcoming Budget.

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