Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said the way the National Statistics Office reported inflation was wrong and contributed to “ongoing misinformation” about the economy.

Addressing a meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) on the next budget, to be presented next month, Prof. Scicluna said he was “irritated” by the situation.

He cited recent NSO statistics and said the office’s inflation reports needed to change.

“I can’t understand why the NSO, in its initial statement, reports the news on the moving inflation average, as this is not the right way. This is not on and needs to change,” he said.

After the meeting, the Finance Ministry was asked to clarify how the NSO, in the minister’s view, should report inflation but there was no reply before going to print.

The NSO is considered to be independent and is normally not criticised by members of the Government.

Sources said the way the NSO reports statistics was very conservative and followed common EU-wide rules.

“The NSO has always reported inflation statistics this way and cannot understand this sudden criticism,” sources told Times of Malta.

Prof. Scicluna also attacked this newspaper over a video-interview carried last week, alleging it was not aired in its entirety and saying he had been misreported.

However, the unedited interview with Prof. Scicluna was carried on timesofmalta. com in full, with the exception of the first question and the minister’s reply about the date of the Budget.

In the interview, Prof. Scicluna was not in a position to give a date on the Budget even though the date had been announced that day by Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech.