Household Finance and Consumption Survey in Malta : results from the fourth wave

This article summarizes the main findings from the fourth wave of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) for Malta. The HFCS is part of a co-ordinated research project led by the European Central Bank and involves national central banks of all euro area countries and selected non-euro area EU member states. The results presented are obtained from micro-data collected for reference year 2020 from households residing in Malta and compared with the previous three waves. The HFCS provides household-level data on assets, liabilities, wealth and income. As such, it plays an important role in analysing the economic behaviour of Maltese households and contributes to a better understanding of the developments underlying macro statistics. The results also provide a glimpse of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on household balance sheets and finances.