We live, these days, in times of hyperbole and exaggeration, due no doubt to Saturday's MEP and local council elections.

This is all fun and games, in the hallowed Maltese tradition of elections - goes with the public meetings, the aggressive campaigning, the personalising of issues, the slurs and allegations with the inevitable court cases, etc. In this way the public is shaken from its customary lethargy and realises that an election is coming and off the public goes to vote. That's why voter participation, even at MEP elections, is an all-EU high.

In this case, in this year, the accent has been, on the government's side, on the growth registered ny the national economy, with figures after figures thrown at the electorate, with added confirmation by the ratings agencies and the European Commission. And of course with the surplus instead of the deficit in public finances. Which surplus was then spent on so many worthwhile causes like giving people back what they had missed getting years ago when in government was the party now in Opposition.

But as often happens, hyperbole and exaggeration get a life of their own and take off. The general impression the country gets is it has never had it so good and everything is possible - a tunnel under the sea - possible; further growth - possible; further arrival of foreigners to do jobs which the Maltese no longer want to do - possible.

The public does not notice that in so many glowing credit rating reasoning there is usually a word or two of caution. Worded many times in cryptic language, we tend to gloss over the cautionary words and to believe that such will never happen especially if the team leading the country remains on top. Which is the point of all the campaign, after all.

But our issue today includes a salutary word of caution, coming from the Central Bank itself in surveys reproduced in the latest issue of the Quarterly Review, which we report about on the front page.

What we can make out from what is written there is that the past quarter saw a decrease in the rate of economic growth. The decrease is quite marked and it is spread across most of the economic sectors on the island.

We must be cautious in interpreting the results - they can be, and most probably they are, a temporary blip. But a word of caution is never out of place. Ours is an open economy surrounded by a sea which can be deceptively calm but which can rise up in storm without any pre-notice. It pays to be cautious and to be prepared for any eventuality.

The fact then that our country has been using the time to cut down on the deficit and to boost the surplus a major part of which is not spent but retained aside for a rainy day fills the country with hope that whatever happens the country will always have resources to tackle any eventuality.