The Opposition had been “pumping the idea around” that utility prices would be cut as part of Budget 2017, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.

Speaking to the Times of Malta, Dr Muscat said expectations that utility prices would drop had stemmed from the Opposition and were not based on anything concrete.

This evening's Budget 2017 speech made no mention of cuts in utility tariffs, with Finance Minister Edward Scicluna instead announcing incentives for renewable energy use.

Speaking last Sunday, Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil had predicted that the government would be reducing utility prices to distract from the arrival of the new LNG tanker that will be used as part of the gas-fired Delimara power station. 

Dr Muscat said people knew that tariffs were no longer dependant on the international prices of heavy fuel oil and were as a result more stable.

Later, at a post-Budget press conference, the Prime Minister mocked his political adversary for his outrage over a failure to reduce tariffs. 

"The first thing that comes to mind is how stupid Simon Busuttil must be, since he could have reduced electricity prices but didn't while he was in government. He used to say it wasn't possible, and now that we've done it, he's saying it's thanks to him."  

Remarking on the overall Budget, Dr Muscat insisted it had been a “social one”.

“We felt there were people who had not benefited enough, people like pensioners, low-income earners. So we wanted to put our money where our mouth is. We didn’t turn to the private sector to carry this burden, but we did are taking on this responsibility as a government,” he said.