The government’s policy was aimed at patching things up rather than ensuring that the country had solid finances, the Labour Party said.

Karmenu Vella, the Opposition spokesman for finances, said that while the Prime Minister boasted that the deficit in 2010 had been reduced by €17 million on the previous year and on what had been forecast in the budget, he was in reality comparing the financial results with forecasts made just two months before the end of the year.

When one compared the results with the aims announced at the end of 2009, when the Prime Minister had said that Malta had not been affected by recession thanks to his policy, one would find that the government was €40 million down and €140 million away from its deficit forecast for 2010.

Mr Vella said that although the government was supposedly saving an annual €40 million on the shipyards and another €60 million in subsidies to Maltese families following the increase in the price of utilities, the 2010 deficit was still €46 million more than in 2008 and debt in the past two years increased by €645 million.

This was apart from the government guaranteed debt which, up to September, amounted to nearly €230 million. This was leading to an increase in the government’s expenditure of nearly €200 million a year just to service debts.

Contrary to what the government was saying, the country’s finances were weak and the government was only seeing how to survive until the next electio. Should it again win this election, it would again start crying about the need for sacrifices because of one need or another.

It was clear that the people’s sacrifices in the past years had not translated into anything, Mr Vella said.