Water and electricity tariffs introduced on January 1 will remain in force for the whole year, the Finance Ministry has confirmed.

"Enemalta locked in the price of oil and the dollar exchange rate for 2010. There will be no change for this year in tariffs," a spokesman told The Times yesterday.

When speaking in Parliament on Monday, Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt, previously responsible for Enemalta, warned that throughout this year international prices of refined fuel oil were expected to go up by 43 per cent while the price of gasoil was expected to shoot up by 57 per cent.

This gave rise to speculation that the new higher tariffs might be revised upwards once again sometime this year despite a government promise they were not going to change so as to give industry and families price stability.

However, the spokesman said Minister Gatt had read reports from leading international financial institutions Goldman Sachs and Barclays as well as oil company Shell showing that an upward trend in the price of oil was expected this year.

The spokesman clarified this was not linked to Malta since Enemalta had locked in the price of its oil purchases for this year.

Dr Gatt was speaking on Monday during the parliamentary debate on a motion presented by the Labour Party calling for the legal notice that introduced the higher tariffs to be revoked. The motion was defeated.

The tariffs have been criticised by all social partners, with employers warning they would erode competitiveness. On Sunday and Monday, 11 unions organised two protests against the tariffs.

In the last Budget, government introduced a one-off energy benefit amounting to €10 million for families as well as an assistance fund for industry to cushion some of the negative impact.