Former Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said this evening that supplementary estimates presented by the government made the Budget for this year irrelevant.

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Fenech said the supplementary estimates of €336 million were exceptionally high.

He noted that whereas €4.5m had been appropriated for CHOGM, an additional €2.3 million were being requested.

€3.7 million were being requested for the EU-Africa summit, for which no provision had been made.

An additional €6 million were being requested under the heading of EU presidency.  

Engineering Resources, the company which had taken former Enemalta workers, was seeking an additional €4 million.  

There were also increases in recurrent expenditure, mostly as a result of over-runs in emoluments.

Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said the supplementary estimates were not extraordinary. He said the total included €168 million for capital expenditure which would be covered by EU funds. 

Other recurrent expenses were the same as in the past but the government was confident it was end the year with a  narrowed deficit. 

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