NSO statistics revealed that the government has failed to meet its financial targets, PL spokesman Karmenu Vella said.

The Finance Ministry, however, said in a statement that the country’s financial position strengthened last year.

In a statement, Mr Vella said that the government failed in its debt targets and the deficit of the consolidated fund was much higher than forecast a month and a half before the end of last year.

This was in spite of the fact that the government postponed expenditure for January.

In the budget presented in October 2010 and November 2011, the government had forecast that the deficit for last year should be €195.6 million, but the NSO statistics show a fiscal deficit of €218.6 million, 12 per cent higher than forecast.

Mr Vella noted that this happened because of a weaker economy, especially in the last quarter of 2011.

In its budget presented in 2010, the government had planned on an income of €2,791.7 million but this was revised by €96 million in the last budget as it realised it would not get as much funds as it had hoped for from the EU.

However, figures were now showing that the government collected €2,643.8 million, €52 million less than it had forecast in November.

In the meantime, for the deficit not to seem bigger, the government reduced the planned expenditure by nearly €29 million.

But, as in previous year, around half of this was from capital expenditure, to the detriment of the country's infrastructure.

In its statement, the ministry said the opposition was incompetent in the analysis of the most basic system of a country’s financial situation.

For the statistics quoted by the PL were based on cash accounting which had not yet been adjusted to be in line with European standards.

A primary distinction was in the periods covered becuase of the accruals principle. This led to creditors being added to expenses.

The minisry said this showed that the financial creativity alleged by the opposition was only existent in the superficial way it interpreted statistics.

Contrary to the impression given, the difference between recurrent income and total expenditure dropped by  €60.6 million when compared to 2011.

This was primarily due to an increase in income from VAT, which had not been increased. This meant that the increase was due to an increase in consumption and economic activity leading to an increase in social contributions as a result of more people in employment.

Malta also registered a primary surplus last year exclusing interest on debt.

The ministry said that the government’s financial decisions, which led the country to improve its financial situation, were also praised by the European Commission in January. The Commission decided to halt the excessive deficit procedures it had embarked upon.

In February, the Commission presented the Alert Mechanism Report, which was the first step in the new surveillance procedure for the prevention and correction of macro-economic deficits. This included an analyses of the economic competitiveness and the country’s financial situation.

Only 11 EU countries, including Malta, were certified as having a strong economy and finances.

Malta’s financial situation, the ministry said, remained strong with the debt being nearly 69 per cent of the gross domestic product, lower than the 87 per cent eurozone average.

Such a situation was crucial for the country to remain stable, attract more investment and create more employment. It also led to unemployment in Malta remaining among the lowest in the EU.