I have to say I was impressed by a number of things in Malta. Although it is a small place it does make analysing what is going on easier.

It is also probably easier to control and manage than somewhere like Britain or Italy.

Firstly, Malta is the only country I have visited where there are no beggars and no homeless people. There are no importunate people harassing others on the streets with their ways of earning some money.

If you are willing to east pastizzi, qassatat and the like you can live very cheaply.

There are far too many crumbling buildings that need restoration. That is a negative.

I was impressed by how clean it had become. That is a change; it used to be very dirty. People cleaned their homes and threw the rubbish outside.

The other side – Vittoriosa, Cospicua and Senglea – do still need cleaning up and updating but, by and large, things look very good.

I also never feel threatened. It seems to be mercifully crime free.

QE (quantitative easing) is something imposed upon member states by the European Central Bank, therefore, Malta does not have an option.

Having said that I was amazed to find that the Maltese government had borrowed €5.75 billion as at the end of 2013. That is indeed a very large sum for a small country. It will have to be repaid and it is not clear how that is going to happen.

I have no idea what the average personal borrowing is but I see that house prices are ridiculously high. I assume therefore that people who buy have to borrow. Personal borrowing could thus be very high. If it is, then there is trouble ahead.