Exactly 50 years ago, as a research student in finance at the London School of Economics and Political Science, I spent three days in Washington DC as guest of the International Monetary Fund.

There was one specific feature which stood out from all others: the economists there were not exactly in a molly-cuddly mode towards small jurisdictions which, they often complained, involved them in greater effort than large mature ones whose statistical data were more reliable and punctual. I don’t imagine there has been any perceptible change since then.

That is why I am more than just surprised at the glow, evident in the latest IMF’s conclusive report on Malta.

Our “resilient” economy, which even managed a 4.3 per cent real growth throughout 2015, is likely, as expected, to slow down slightly during this and next year. Malta’s sovereign debt was 70 per cent of its GDP five years ago, but is now already down to below 67 per cent and is on the way to approaching the ideal level of 60 per cent inside a decade from now, short of any unforeseen unfavourable happenings in public administration.

Emphasis is laid on the possibility of the government budget managing to result in an untargeted surplus, for whatever reason, in which eventuality the surplus should be used to gradually build ‘fiscal buffers’ needed tomitigate the consequences of uncertainty in forecasting.

Perhaps what struck me most in the IMF’s economic indicators for Malta has been the sheer drop in the interest rate on government bonds: the yield on 10-year bonds went down drastically from 4.5 per cent in 2011 to 1.5 per cent in 2015.

I can hardly believe that Malta has been able to achieve so much in such a relatively short time, almost currently at par with Germany, the largest and most successful economy in Europe.