Expenditure on wages increased by €40 million in two years in this administration, as much as it had increased in the last year of the previous government, the Labour Party said.

It said in a statement that the expenditure in the year before the general election had been due to a strong increase in the civil service.

The Labour Party noted that during the term of Simon Busuttil as deputy leader of the Nationalist Party, the party which was then in government, there was an increase of 660 jobs in the civil service - around six a day during the electoral campaign.

Agreement had also reached on a number of collective agreements on the eve of the election also leading to an increase in expenditure and a number of promotions.

It noted that a new contract for three public officers who used to form part of Former Minister Tonio Fenech’s secretariat was signed on the eve of the election

The PL said that reality was that this government had managed to get Malta out of the  excessive deficit procedure at a time when the Opposition was forecasting bailout.

The economy had grown so much that in spite of lower income tax, the government  received €71 million more than in the last quarter of the previous administration.

Moreover, while in the months when Dr Busuttil was deputy leader of the party in government, the national debt had increaed by an average of €100 million a month, between June last year and March this year this dropped by nearly €120 million.