During the first 10 months of this year the Ministry of Finance and the departments forming part of it issued a total of €14,599,558.09 in direct orders.
Two entities also paid €925,457 in so-called "restrictive tendering", where the invitation to bid was sent only to selected contractors who had been pre-qualified through a screening process.
The information was given by Minister Fenech in reply to a parliamentary question by Labour MP Noel Farrugia.
The largest monetary amount – €1,424,633.39 – was involved in 54 direct orders by Malta Enterprise and Malta Industrial Parks. The next largest amount, €756,834.40, was given out in 31 direct orders by the ministry itself.
The largest number of direct orders, 823, was given by the Malta Stock Exchange for a total of €502,190.
Gozo Channel made 60 direct orders for a total of €3,513,139.
There were 10 restrictive tenders by Enemalta for €394,868 and 19 by the Malta Stock Exchange for €530,589).