The announcement last week that Malta's public finances have risen from a perennial deficit situation to a small (€8 million) surplus must have pleased all Maltese of goodwill.

There had been a time when we almost got used to think that a deficit was a constant in the Maltese public finances, even though a long time ago, the Maltese finances were in a surplus situation.

It has also been pointed out these days that not even when Malta obtained a huge dollop of EU funds did we manage to rise from deficit to surplus. For the truth of the matter, in public as well as in private business, is that what really matters is not what amount of funds one has at one's disposal but rather how tight one keeps the reigns of spending in one's hands.

As we know, there are countries in the Eurozone that are in a surplus situation (some, like Germany, have written a surplus article in the Constitution) but there are many others (the Southern Mediterraneans) who have wallowed in a deficit situation. That Malta has now risen through this glass ceiling to a surplus situation is the most signal fact that although southernmost than most Southern Mediterranean countries, Malta is a Nordic country at least in this regard.

Granted, the surplus registered is small, almost within the margin of error, one would say. One hopes the surplus will not disappear from sight after any one of the future Eurostat corrections over the coming months.

One must also point out that while the deficit has been turned into a small surplus, the public debt has continued to go up (this time by €140.2 million) and this, in a way, nullifies the small and meager surplus that has been registered.

So the task ahead is to make the surplus a permanent feature, as against a fleeting glimpse, of the country's finances; to make it sustainable and to try and decrease the debt mountain our country is laboring under. For considering only the increased interest payments on this additional debt mountain, that eats into the surplus.

It is important now to keep up the momentum and to withstand any pressure (and they will be manifold especially in election year) and to avoid slippages. The amount of people being inducted into the government ranks is already a source of concern for many of us. There we see go a great part of the next surplus.

The analysis on recurrent expenditure which rocketed up from €519m in 2008 to €782m in 2016 and all related figures reveals a trend that is undermining all the efforts made to depart from the deficit syndrome.

That has been kept in check by the growth registered in the economy. Ultimately, if growth slows down, the slide from surplus to deficit is very near.