Seventy per cent of the 2017 Budget has been implemented, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna announced, hailing it a triumph in light of Malta having hosted the EU presidency and a general election in the past 12 months. 

"The presidency was unprecedented. And over and above that we were operating in an election year. Despite this we achieved the same implementation rate as we had in previous years," Prof Scicluna said. 

He was joined by Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar, who said efforts to ensure the civil service was not impaired by the election and other large national events had been successful.

READ: What Prof. Scicluna had announced in Budget 2017 speech

Describing this morning's press conference as "the closing of another chapter", Mr Cutajar said measures which had not been implemented would not be forgotten. 

He said a budget implementation office within the Office of the Prime Minister conducted regular internal audits and reviews to ensure all pledges were followed through.

Prof Scicluna said today's press conference was "about accountability".

"It's not that this was not done in the past but it was 'wishy-washy'," he said. 

Some 265 measures from the 2017 budget have been implemented so far with 1,000 introduced over the past legislature. 

Nearly 100 pending measures from the 2014, 2015, and 2016 budgets were implemented last year. 

The 2018 Budget will be unveiled on Monday. 

Speaking to the Times of Malta from the sidelines of this morning's press conference, Prof. Scicluna said planning for this year's measures had gone smoother than in previous years.

The government, he said, had reduced the number of cooks in the kitchen, which made it simpler to oversee preparations.