The government spent €200,560 on an information campaign on the last Budget, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this evening in reply to a parliamentary question by Clyde Puli (PN).

The spending, he said, covered filming, editing, lights, sound, production of information adverts on newspapers, television, radio and online, press conferences and logistics.

The outlay was €19,440, or 19% less than for the Budget 2015.

Contracts were awarded to Force 5, webee, Que Sound, Nexos, TEC, HALO, AF Signs, Matthew Cesareo, Aaron Briffa, Centrecom, Vintage Concepts, Ikona Artworks and PBS after calls for quotation.

The prime minister pointed out that the former government spent €385,322 on the campaign for its last Budget, when it knew it would not be approved by parliament.