The 2025 Budget included €100 million for automation and digitalisation grants for businesses.
Confirmed. Finance Minister Clyde Caruana announced a €100 million investment package in Budget 2025 for businesses to adopt AI, IoT, cybersecurity, AR/VR, blockchain, robotics, and digital training programmes. Administered through Malta Enterprise, Malta Digital Innovation Authority and other agencies. Multiple sub-measures in the Twettiq tal-Baġit 2025 implementation report.
Confirmed. Finance Minister Clyde Caruana announced a €100 million investment package in Budget 2025 for businesses to adopt AI, IoT, cybersecurity, AR/VR, blockchain, robotics, and digital training programmes. Administered through Malta Enterprise, Malta Digital Innovation Authority and other agencies. Multiple sub-measures in the Twettiq tal-Baġit 2025 implementation report.
We tested Zarb's claim against the Budget 2025 speech by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, the Twettiq tal-Baġit 2025 implementation report, Malta Enterprise grant scheme documentation, and contemporary press coverage. The methodological question is whether the announced €100M digitalisation and automation envelope is documented in primary sources, recognising that this is an announced package rather than an aggregated single budget line.
Verdict lands at True because the €100M figure and its automation/digitalisation purpose are confirmed in Caruana's published speech and tracked across multiple Twettiq 2025 sub-measures administered through Malta Enterprise, MDIA, Tech.mt, MITA and Jobsplus. The deep-dive lays out the eight technology categories, the implementing agencies, the disbursement-versus-announcement caveat, and the cross-budget reconstruction of the headline figure; this editorial note is methodology only.
Did the 2025 Budget really include €100 million for automation and digitalisation grants
Zarb's claim is unusually specific (€100M, automation and digitalisation grants, in Budget 2025) and testable directly against the published Caruana budget speech and the Twettiq tal-Baġit 2025 implementation report. The deep-dive lays out the composition of the package, the administering agencies, and what the Twettiq 2025 records as 'in process' vs 'implemented'.
What the €100M covers — package composition
Finance Minister Clyde Caruana's October 2024 budget speech for fiscal year 2025 included a €100 million investment package across eight technology categories. The table below summarises each category and the lead administering agency, with full text from the budget speech and Tech.mt grants overview as source.
| Category | Scope | Lead agency |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial Intelligence | Grants for businesses integrating AI into operations | Malta Enterprise |
| Internet of Things (IoT) | Sensor networks, manufacturing automation, smart-city applications | Malta Enterprise |
| Cybersecurity | SME and corporate cybersecurity capacity building | Malta Enterprise |
| AR / VR | Augmented and virtual reality applications | Malta Enterprise |
| Blockchain / DLT | Building on Malta's existing VFA framework | MDIA |
| Robotics & process automation | Manufacturing and service-sector automation | Malta Enterprise |
| AI & digital training | Workforce upskilling — workers and professionals | Jobsplus |
| Government AI integration | Embedding AI into public-administration workflows | MITA |
| Total announced envelope | €100M | |
The package is structured as a cross-cutting digital-transformation programme rather than a single grant scheme. Tech.mt acts as the industry-facing matchmaker; Malta Enterprise leads on most SME-facing grants; MDIA covers regulatory/standards aspects; MITA handles internal-government deployment; Jobsplus covers worker training.
How the €100M relates to Recovery and Resilience Plan funds
Some of the €100M is funded directly from the Maltese budget; some is co-funded via Malta's Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) under the EU's NextGenerationEU programme. The blended structure means individual sub-measures may carry both Maltese-budget and EU-fund line items. This is normal for digital-transformation programmes across the EU and is consistent with how Malta has reported similar packages in prior budget cycles.
What the package is intended to achieve
Per Caruana's budget speech and Tech.mt promotional materials, the strategic intent is:
- Productivity uplift: addressing Malta's productivity-per-worker gap relative to EU peers.
- Sectoral diversification: pushing beyond gaming and aviation into broader tech/AI sectors.
- SME digital capability: bringing smaller businesses up to scale on digital infrastructure.
- Workforce upskilling: addressing skills gaps that limit higher-value-added employment.
- Public-sector modernisation: integrating AI in government workflows.
Where uncertainty remains
Two qualifications worth flagging:
- Disbursement vs. announced envelope: announced €100M and actually-disbursed €100M are different things. The Twettiq 2025 status indicators show many sub-measures still 'fil-proċess' rather than 'implimentata'. Full-year disbursement won't be visible until Twettiq 2026.
- Effectiveness: separate from disbursement is whether the spend translates into productivity uplift. Independent evaluation would require multi-year data and is outside this fact-check's scope.
Neither qualification disturbs the underlying claim. Zarb's statement was about what the budget INCLUDED, not about what has been disbursed or whether it has worked.
So is the claim accurate?
Yes. Budget 2025 announced a €100M investment package for AI, automation, digitalisation, cybersecurity, blockchain, robotics, and AR/VR — confirmed in the Caruana budget speech and reflected in multiple Twettiq tal-Baġit 2025 implementation measures. The €100M envelope and the automation/digitalisation focus are documentary fact.