Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said today that he saw no need to present a mini-Budget, although the Budget he had presented in April could be termed as such in that it included the November Budget plus spending commitments made later.

Prof Scicluna was replying to questions after meeting the Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB)

Prof Scicluna said the governemnt had wanted to make sure it maintained economic momentum and continuity and therefore, in terms of its election promise, it had retained the previous government's Budget, while making provision for spending commitments made afterwards in the last months of the former government.

Writing in The Times of Malta last month, economist Karm Farrugia said: 'How any finance minister can endure 10 months with someone else’s budget i beyond my comprehension. There is nothing to stop him launching a ini-Budget for the second half of this year, particularly to factor in, nter alia, the miserable growth expectations all over the eurozone nd, indeed, the whole EU."