Updated 8.05pm - Added Finance Ministry statement

Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil today criticised the Prime Minister for his “populist gimmicks” following his latest “pompous” announcement of a budget surplus.

While Joseph Muscat bragged about a budget surplus for the first time in many years, he did not tell people that this was just a result of slashing capital investment by 47 per cent, Dr Busuttil said. 

"This is just another example of populist politicians who do not tell the truth to their people but are only interested in headlines," Dr Busuttil told EU youth leaders gathered in Malta.

The PN leader said it would have been better if the Prime Minister also informed the public that he had slashed tens of millions of euros in government investment during the same year to be able to brag about an €8 million surplus.

This was when the same figures showed continuing recurrent expenditure growth so that the government could 'waste' taxpayers money on vote-buying expeditions.

Dr Busuttil said that the Maltese electorate had become accustomed to take what its prime minister said with a pinch of salt and always discovered something different after his “bombastic” announcements.

'We achieved PN governments' holy grail' 

In a statement, the Finance Ministry rebutted Dr Busuttil's claims which sought to downplay the achievement. 

Capital expenditure was not "slashed" in 2016, the government said, but simply returned to normal levels after an "exceptional" 2015 in which the government managed to spend all allocated EU funds "left largely unspent by the previous government during the 2007-2013 multi-financial framework." 

In fact, the government noted, capital expenditure had reached an all-time high during that year. 

The ministry chastised the Opposition Leader, saying he ought to know that EU projects "have practically a neutral effect on government public finances."

"Since programmes are EU funded, increasing or decreasing EU programmes would affect the inward flow of EU funds accordingly, leaving an almost negligible effect on the balance," the ministry said in a statement. 

It noted that capital expenditure between 2010 and 2012 was at the same level as that of 2016. 

"Still, a budget surplus then had remained a pipe-dream," the ministry said.