Euro Tumbles, Cruise Cash Soars: Malta’s Economic Week in Review

# Euro Slide, Cruise Surge & Festa Hangovers: The Maltese Wallet’s Week That Was
*Weekly economic review for the week ended 26 September 2025*

Valletta’s morning cannon may have fired at 08:00 sharp, but the real shot heard across the islands this week came from Frankfurt. On Tuesday the European Central Bank trimmed its deposit rate by another 25 basis points to 3.25 %, dragging the euro to a fresh two-year low of 1.02 against the dollar. For a country that imports 80 % of its food and all of its fuel, the maths was brutal: a €500 grocery trolley that cost Maltese families €485 last month now nudges €510.

Yet look past the gloom and the harbour tells a different story. On Thursday, MSC World Europa glided into Grand Harbour with 6,762 passengers—an all-time September record—her whistle echoing off the baroque facades like a cash register ringing. “We’re fully booked till November,” laughed Ramon Pace, who runs a trio of souvenir kiosks on the Valletta waterfront. “The weak euro is a magnet; Americans are tipping like it’s 1999.” Port Authority figures released Friday show cruise spend per head up 18 % year-on-year, pushing weekly tourist receipts to €38.7 million, the highest since the 2019 heyday.

## The great fuel fudge
While visitors splashed out, motorists winced. Enemed raised petrol by 2c to €1.44/litre on Wednesday, citing dollar-denominated cargoes loaded before the rate cut. Taxi drivers circled Castille in protest, horns blaring during Thursday’s Cabinet meeting. “We’re the ones ferrying tourists, yet fuel eats 40 % of our takings,” fumed Clayton Mifsud, spokesperson for the Taxi Drivers Union. Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo promised a “temporary relief mechanism” within the 2026 budget, but gave no figure.

## Property: the silent spectator
No such drama in the real-estate windows of Sliema. Not because prices fell—they didn’t—but because nothing is moving. New Central Bank data shows mortgage approvals down 11 % for the third quarter, the steepest slide since 2012. “Buyers are waiting for the ECB to keep cutting,” says Dhalia CEO Mark Micallef. “Sellers still think their 2022 price tag is holy.” The stand-off is freezing first-time buyers, many of whom diverted savings to this week’s iPhone 17 pre-orders instead—local telecoms reported a 35 % spike in handset financing contracts.

## Festa economics
Sunday’s climax of the Żejtun feast injected an estimated €1.8 million into the south-eastern economy, according to parish accountant Fr. Joseph Farrugia. Fireworks factories alone sold 1.2 tonnes of petards, each kilo carrying a €25 eco-tax that will flow back into the new Waste-to-Energy plant at Marsa. But the hangover is real: waste collectors reported a 40 % surge in glass bottles on Monday, and Mater Dei’s A&E logged 23 firework-related injuries, pushing overtime budgets €45,000 over forecast.

## Remote-work villages
Away from the pyrotechnics, Gozo quietly chalked up another win. The Ministry for Gozo announced that 312 foreign remote workers have registered under the new “DigiNomad +1” scheme, bringing an estimated €2.4 million in annual rental income. Victoria’s cafés now open mid-week “pastizzi brunches” aimed at laptop-toting Scandinavians, while the Gozo Channel ferry sold 7 % more passenger tickets than last September. “We used to close in winter; now we roster staff year-round,” said Mariosa Camilleri, who employs ten at her Xlendi bakery.

## The week ahead
All eyes now turn to Monday’s retail-sales print and Wednesday’s national accounts. Government sources whisper the deficit could shrink below 4 % of GDP for the first time since COVID, freeing funds for the promised taxi-driver rebate. Meanwhile, importers are hedging euro-dollar exposure at 1.00, betting the ECB will out-cut the Fed before Christmas. For Maltese households, that means cheaper loans but pricier shelves—a paradox as Mediterranean as a September swim.

As the church bells of Valletta strike six on Friday evening, the verdict is clear: the euro’s wobble is both poison and potion. It empties the supermarket wallet yet fills the cruise-liner coffers, clobbers the commuter but charms the digital nomad. In other words, just another week on the rock—where every economic ripple lands twice, once as hardship and once as opportunity, and only the festa fireworks shine on both.