Two years ago, the government invested heavily in setting up structures to combat human trafficking so now that they were in place less money was needed, the Home Affairs Ministry said.

“The original financial allocation was higher given that, at the point, certain basic structures still had to be set up, such as the establishment of the monitoring committee, the task force and the first training initiatives.

“Now that the basic structures are in place, the financial allocations need only to be such as to sustain the relevant effort,” a ministry spokeswoman said in reaction to a recent US State Department report on global trafficking.

It said that Malta’s funding for the fight against human trafficking was slashed by 70 per cent last year. Funds allocated were down from €153,000 in 2012 to €46,000 last year.

This meant that Malta was still not complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of the illicit trade.