The government was irresponsibly reducing its capital expenditure when this was essential to reduce the negative impact of the recession, the Opposition's spokesman for finance said.

Charles Mangion said in a statement that not only was the government not implementing the intensive capital investment promised in the budget, it was reducing capital expenditure. This confirmed that it had lost control of the country's economic and financial management.

The latest financial statistics confirmed that in the first four months of this year the government reduced its capital expenditure by more than 13 million euros.

When it came to income, Dr Mangion said that in spite of a hefty increase in the cost of living, the government received less funds. Maltese families had been affected not just by lower income, they were also burdened with the increased water and electricity rates.

When it came to the deficit, the published figures confirmed that in the first four months this blew to 235 million euros, an increase of 27 million when compared to the same period last year. This increase was registered in spite of the fact that the government had reduced its capital expenditure by 13 million euros in the first four months of this year and it did not subsidise water and electricity. The country now had the same level of deficit it had in 2004 when the government burdened the country and families with new taxes.

The national debt between April last year and April this year increased by 445 million euros, an increase that was five times more than between April 2007 and April 2008. This explosion in debt meant that interest increased by more than 4 million euros to 72.4 million euros. On a 12 month period, this would mean that interest would be well over 200 million euros.