The European Commission’s forecast for Malta’s economic performance over the next two years is positive and the most positive point that was put forward was that Malta’s debt to GDP ratio looks like it will go down.

But there is also much more to talk about. The EC praised Malta in terms of the “robust growth” it is expected to register in 2014 and 2015. It is predicted that our GDP growth is expected to be around 2.3 %, which is a higher rate than the EU average and the Eurozone average.

In what can also be described as a coup for the government, the Commission pointed out that this growth will largely be due to domestic demand, which will have had a boost from the reduction in electricity and water rates.

While the issue of unemployment has become a bit of a political bone of contention locally and despite European Commission Presidency hopeful Jean Claude Juncker’s warnings, the EC said that it looks to remain stable at around 6.5%. Mr Juncker warned that once the rate goes to above 7.5%, it is irreversible.

The European Commission also expects the general government deficit ratio– which stood at 2.8% last year and 3.3% in 2012 – to continue to decrease. But its deficit projections – 2.5% – are less optimistic than the 2.1% target set by the government. Nonetheless, this is also a positive.

The Commission expects the government debt-to-GDP ratio to improve from 73% in 2013 to 71.1% by 2015 – slightly higher than the 70.8% ratio registered in 2012.

The Opposition has already gone on the defensive about the figures, but it must be pointed out that the previous administration constantly referred to the “certificates of success” from the European Union every time positives were announced.

The EC of today is not the EC of pre-2008 when there was no financial crisis. Figures are vetted and cross-vetted many times. It does seem that Malta has performed well and is continuing to perform well in terms of the economy.

Europe does finally seem like it is dragging itself out of the financial abyss that it had found itself slipping into at the end of 2008. It has been five long years, but it seems like we are finally getting there. The markets seem to be perking up and trusting eurozone economies more, but the key here is constant vigilance. We have already seen how Cyprus’ economy was hammered as a result of the explosion that rocked its power station. While you can make forecasts, you can never really anticipate what is in the future. This is why Malta must continue to work hard to balance the books. Once we have done so, we should aim for surplus, but that is still a long way away.