The average citizen of goodwill has every reason to be gratified that the prospects for the immediate future of these islands are promising at this point in time.
The reputable credit-rating agency Standard and Poor has not only confirmed Malta's BBB+A rating. It went on to confirm that its outlook on the Maltese economy remained positive.
The Agency projected that the Maltese economy would further expand by 2.8 per cent annually -each year - in real terms between this year and 2018.
It expected budgetary consolidation to continue, bringing the general government debt down to 54 per cent of GDP in 2018 from 57 per cent in 2014. It went further. It affirmed its belief that the rate of Malta's economic growth would continue to outpace that of the eurozone as a whole.
The motor behind all this was the initiative of the administration that led to the laying of an electricity interconnector cable to Sicily, the building of a liquefied natural gas terminal and a natural gas fuelled plant which opened up possibilities of reducing government debts through economic growth and higher employment levels.
The government opened up avenues which led to initiative and co-operation with outside interests including China, Arab countries and some major firms, all of which were designed to contribute to rising employment levels and savings.
The challenge for the immediate future is to consolidate and, if possible, to expand and to ascertain that economic growth is shared by all. Malta's economic sentiment indicator (EST) last month stood at 110.9 - about 11 per cent above the average. It was the second-highest EST figure in eurozone countries.
Viewed against this background, Malta's economic sinews are stronger than ever before. The potential is there to be exploited in an atmosphere of national co-operation. Such co-operation must not be poisoned by party political partisanship. Constituted bodies in the business sector could, profitably, throw their weight behind initiatives designed to put hot-headed politicians in their place.
J.G. Vassallo