Former Minister George Pullicino has challenged the governor of the Central Bank of Malta to say how much the regular, lengthy power cuts are costing the country.

In a post on Facebook, Pullicino said that, in 2010, Malta had experienced a widespread power cut which last seven hours.

Edward Scicluna, who was a Labour MEP at the time this happened, had estimated that the country had lost €20 million because of that power cut.

“Can the former Finance Minister tell us how much he thinks Malta has lost after 100 hours of power cuts?” Pullicino asked.

Malta has been experiencing widespread power cuts for six days, with Enemalta blaming the excessive heat. Large pockets of localities have been left without electricity for many hours, in instances more than a whole day.

Scicluna had estimated that the power cut cost the nation some €20 million with businesses being unable to deliver their services properly losing on added value.

“The damage caused cannot be accurately measured. Imagine if a wedding was ruined, frozen items that had to be thrown away or how many people were stuck in lifts,” Scicluna had said. The damage done to the manufacturing industry is even worse, he added.