According to recent statistics from the good folks at Eurostat, Malta is the most expensive place in the EU to buy certain items found in most homes.
I’m not going to go straight out and give you the answer – that would drastically shorten the length of this post and generally take all the fun out of it.
Why not use your skill and judgement take a guess at the answer from the list below. In Malta is the worst place to buy goods from not one but TWO of the categories here:
- Alcohol and Tobacco
- Clothes
- Consumer Electronics
- Cars, Motorbikes and other Vehicles
- Electricity Gas & Fuel
- Food and Non Alcoholic drinks
- Footwear
- Furniture
- Household Appliances
- Public Transport
- Restaurants and Hotels
So for two of the above, Malta is more expensive than anywhere else in the EU.
I’ll give you a clue, it’s not Electricity/Gas/Fuel as Malta is well below the average European price for those. In fact the government has already sent out a press-release trumpeting this particular achievement.
So is it the much maligned Bus Company? Costly Cars? Unreasonably expensive clothing or high priced restaurants?
Nope, in fact Malta is the most expensive country in which to purchase Household Appliances and Consumer Electronics.
So that covers (among other things): TVs; fridges; iPods; printers; dishwashers; computers and laptops; vacuums and toasters.
Instead of Birkikara, try Budapest in Hungary for the cheapest microwave ovens and freezers in the EU. And don’t buy your electronics in Paola, go to Prague in the Czech Republic for Europe’s best deals on flat-screens and laptops.
For all of the other sectors mentioned above, Malta tends to hover around the middle of the pack, and often a little cheaper than average (although furniture is another expensive category here on the island).
Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries are the most expensive, as you might expect, and the UK and Ireland are right up there too. Instead why not try Macedonia, Albania and Bulgaria if you are looking to do some wallet-friendly shopping on your next European vacation.
Reference: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Comparative_price_levels_of_consumer_goods_and_services#Food.2C_beverages.2C_tobacco.2C_clothing_and_footwear
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An Austrian friend of mine in Malta actually found it cheaper to order a desktop computer from Austria, pay for the transport and so on, and it was still around 200 euros cheaper than it would have been in Malta. So yeah, it’s kind of expensive.
Then again, if we talk about beer….even though they vary a lot, the prices are pretty darn good. Haven’t written about it much yet, but I’m working on a site talking about my experience there as well as for helping other travellers and expats – http://www.maltatogo.org