There has been some comment in the local Malta press about how expensive Malta is compared to other countries in the EU. Most food products are imported and many categories seem to enjoy protection despite EU entry (such as beer), so these are possible reasons for higher prices. Another reason is the very high port tariffs which add to the cost of most imported products. These tariffs should be reformed, but probably nothing will happen until after the next general election in 2008. I think the government has kept tariffs high as a hidden subsidy to local producers, and they are nervous about the consequences of lowering them.

The prices for some basic products found in the first half of October in Malta and Munich; early December 2005 in Milan, Grenoble and Morecambe and early January 2006 in Alphen aan den Rijn in Holland are given below for a comparison. The currency in Malta is the Maltese Lira which has an official exchange rate of € 1.00=Lm 0.4293. An exchange rate of Lm 1.00=£ 1.60 has been used for the Morecambe prices.

The products are typical of those an English gentleman might want to purchase and are chosen from those widely available in supermarkets. The range of products on sale in Malta and Alphen aan den Rijn is smaller than elsewhere. This is probably due to the smaller size of the supermarkets in Malta and Holland. The Milan list is incomplete because only a quick survey was done.

At the bottom of the page are listed products you might expect to be easily available in Malta but which are not.

Prices highlighted in bold indicate particularly good value; in red particularly expensive prices.
A green background indicates prices for goods which are probably of lower quality (because the desired product was not available).
A pink background shows products which are not available or which were not found. This shows how difficult living a gentleman's lifestyle can be in some towns.

1 Only bottled beers considered.
2 In Morecambe, a standard bus ticket isn't available. The price is for an 8km journey.

There are some observations to make about these prices
One complaint heard in Malta concerns the high cost of bread. Apparently it used to be subsidised and the removal of the subsidies increased its price. Yet it is cheaper in Malta than elsewhere, and IMHO it is better than the bread from the other towns.

Surprisingly Barilla pasta can be bought more cheaply in Malta than in Milan. It is not available in Alphen, where the price of an alternative brand, Grand'Italia is given instead.

The best Lavazza coffee is not always available, or is sold under a different brand name. The price given in Alphen for example is for Lavazza 100% Arabica which is almost certainly an inferior quality to the Oro.

The quality of the bottled beer in Munich is better than elsewhere. The cost in Morecambe is high because of local taxes and the habit of selling bottled beers only in throwaway bottles.

Pub prices for beer are really difficult to compare. The Maltese price of 90c can be bettered, but one can also pay 1.60 (at Cordina in the centre of Valletta). Lm 1.60 is € 3.73, which is difficult to pay anywhere in Munich; &euro 3.50 is about the top pub price for beer. Holland has expensive pubs. A normal beer size is only 25cl(!) for which one pays € 2.20, which works out at a staggering € 4.40 for a half litre glass.

Morecambe offers the best ratio between relatively expensive beer prices in a supermarket and relatively cheap prices in a pub. Holland offers the worst ratio.

The best value Munich beer is the micro-brewery at Munich airport. Half a litre of micro brew beer costs just &euro 2.00, the best value in all of Munich, maybe even in the whole of Bavaria. British drinkers, used to the rip-off of low quality and high prices at UK airports, will be surprised to learn that Munich airport offers the best drinking value in Munich.

Eating out is particularly expensive in Holland, and the quality is generally quite poor too. Pubs, donner kebabs and espressos are all dear. Malta can also be expensive. The best food and coffee is in Italy. Quality is poor in Morecambe, and many things are not available. What can be had is cheap though, much cheaper than London.

Public transport cannot easily be compared between Malta and Munich. The basic ticket cost is much higher in Munich. However you can then travel by bus, tram or underground, whereas Malta only has buses. In Munich you can change transport for free, but in Malta this will cost you an additional 20c. Many Munich routes run from one suburb to another (for example from the Ostbahnhof to Schwabing), whereas in Malta nearly all services run to Valletta, the capital. This means that to travel from say Mosta to Attard, a distance of only 3km, you have to travel Mosta-Birkirkara and change for the Attard bus, a distance of about 6km, taking about 30 minutes and costing 40c (€ 0.93).

The Malta public transport also stops early, around 9pm or so. Taxi fares are outrageously expensive (see below), so people are forced to use cars in the evening. The Munich public transport runs to past midnight.

The cheap price of season tickets in Munich means that most people are using them. For a daily season ticket in Munich, you will save money by taking just 3 journeys. In Malta you break even with 5 journeys and save money with 6. For a weekly season in Munich, you save with 6 journeys. In Malta with a weekly season, you save after 25 journeys.

This means that in Malta almost nobody travels on a season ticket and everybody buys their ticket on the bus. The bus driver is also the conductor, and the need to issue a ticket to every passenger slows down the journey time. Munich bus drivers do not sell tickets and this helps keep the public transport more punctual.

The Munich public transport system is heavily used by people who also run a car but find using public transport more effective. In Malta many car owners never use the buses. They are slower and less comfortable than cars with no air conditioning and the drivers are often rude. They're also frequently overcrowded which means standing or even the risk that you won't get picked up because the bus is already full.

The Malta public transport system is a basic and cheap system to serve poor people who don't have a car. Munich public transport is one of the best in the world, designed to offer a viable alternative to private car use.

The Morecambe public transport system is fabulously expensive. It is the only one to not offer a standard ticket price. Instead each journey is priced according to the distance travelled. Few people with cars use the buses.

In both Malta and Munich taxis are expensive. The fares are so high that in both places a Mercedes is the typical taxi.
Fares in Malta are certainly higher relative to local incomes, and the taxis are not metered so being ripped off is an all too common experience. A typical fare for a journey of 7km (St Julian's to Mosta for example) is Lm 8 which is about &euro 18.60.

In Malta a valid alternative is to rent a car. Daily small car rental is LM 6 or € 14 including full insurance.

Many food products that you might expect to find in Malta are either difficult or actually impossible to find. This lists includes:
meat products from southern Italy, Greek yoghurt, Kalamata olives,
coffee beans, peperoncini dolci (eg De Padron variety), goat meat,
live shellfish (from a shop; restaurants serve them), Sicilian blood oranges,
Spam, cotechino.

The above paragraph was written in January 2006. This update in April 2007 shows some improvements to the Maltese supply situation. Greek yoghurt is now available at the new GS supermarket in Naxxar. Sicilian blood oranges are sold at the new Pavi supermarket in Qormi. Spam is on sale in at least two supermarkets, and cotechino is also easily available. This might be due to EU membership, but is more likely because some new supermarkets have opened which are linked with French and Italian ones and offer a wider range of products.