Over €1.6 billion was spent on pandemic response actions and measures since 2020, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana has revealed.

PN MP Ivan Castillo had asked the minister to provide details of the support the governmant gave during the pandemic, as well as the support through the European Union.

Caruana, in response, said that in all, the global figure of €1,665,609,000 was spent on support. Of this amount, €1,515,609,000 came from national funds.

As for EU assistance, around €150 million was funded through the European Social Fund and REACT-EU. "These amounts were allocated on the Wage Subsidy Scheme, specifically between the period of 28 September 2020 and 28 March 2021".

A table the minister tabled in Parliament showed a breakdown of the support given over the recent years.

In 2020, a total of €662,574,000 was spent, rising to €706,375,000 in 2021, and dropping to an estimate of €296,660,000 in 2022.

The most costly measure over the years was the wage supplement, estimated to cost around €842 million in total by the end of this year.

Other categories listed include assistance to fisheries sector, the voucher scheme, tourism support schemes, the ministry for health, assistance for homes for the elderly, reduction in capital gains tax and others.