The Prime Minister was not only being incompetent in managing the country’s finances, with a string of failed aims, but also irresponsible in not trying to justify to families and taxpayers those failed aims, Labour MP Charles Mangion, chairman of the public accounts committee and party spokesman for finance, said.

Revenue from the 2010 tax amnesty has not raised any reply from the Prime Minister and his finance minister because the deficit for 2009 was €40 million higher than forecast last November, and €200 million higher than forecast in 2008.

Instead, the finance minister is using technical language to seem to be giving a justification, though he was in fact exposing the lack of competence in government.

He has said that he sent figures to the EC relating to the extended government deficit of 3.8 per cent of GDP, translating to about €217 million, which are in line with his aim. What it means is that adjustments of extended government in the last budget had to be €40 million, but these had doubled to €80 million. Now the government has to see where to find another €46 million, Dr Mangion said.

They can maybe fiddle with figures as they did in Enemalta’s case, and get some entity or other to assume the debt, which will not appear on the government’s books, so that the government can claim success with financial aims.

But in the end, Dr Mangion added, it will still be the Maltese and Gozitan families and businesses which will have to pay the bill.