Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has skirted questions on how Enemalta settled a bill of €130 million in excise duty in the absence of the €320 million cash injection by Shanghai Electric Power.

“The payment was possible as we have been assured that negotiations with the Chinese have been concluded and the deal will be signed in the coming days,” Dr Muscat told Times of Malta at the end of a Malta-EU Steering Action Committee meeting.

He was asked to confirm or deny whether the debt-ridden corporation had been forced to take a short-term loan to be able to pay the bill by the end of the year.

The delay to sign the deal with the Chinese company could have seriously jeopardised the government’s target to end the year with a 2.7 per cent deficit.

Dr Muscat said that a full explanation would be given once the agreement was tabled in Parliament.

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