The latest public finance figures prove that the government fiddled with the numbers in its latest estimates, Labour's finance spokesman Charles Mangion claimed yesterday.

The government's deficit for the first nine months of the year went up by €123 million over the estimate to €230 million, he explained.

However, this did not include the subsidies the government promised to Enemalta for the third quarter of 2008 and the payments for redundant shipyard workers.

Dr Mangion described the government's financial management as "amateurish" and said although it should base these figures on accruals up to the end of September 2008, it had not even included the cost of the retirement schemes at the shipyard in its expenditure.

During the same period the government raked in more taxes from internet gambling, but this did not have the desired effect, and the country's debts still increased by more than €251 million, to more than €3.5 billion, he explained.

This was partly due to the fact that government spending between January and September 2008 rocketed by €209 million compared to last year.

Meanwhile, the country was also hit by high inflation rates of up to five per cent, one of the highest in the EU.