In fact it was S&P, not Fitch, who once afforded me an opportunity to learn from the inside how the organisation worked. Criticism was in abundance; praise carried a high premium – quite understandable, considering their lender-clientele’s profile, colossal in size and usually operating in the bond markets.

With such a backdrop, Fitch’s latest report on Malta’s economic order and medium-term prospects assumes a more positive significance than that normally associated with a country which so far has never needed to approach such markets – thanks chiefly to its citizens’ ingrained savings, for which the core banks should be grateful, but are not!