Last week I listened to a commentary by an international economic analyst and his conclusion about the unsustainable fiscal deficit of Greece was that this was down to complacency and corruption. He made it clear that he was not referring to corruption of government ministers but corruption of bureaucrats, who in their own way made it a point to pocket money for any service that they were giving. He gave some examples to explain his argument, citing money that was given to someone such that a person is admitted into a public hospital or money that was paid such that a decision is taken to carry our necessary road works.

He argued that complacency was evident in the way tax evasion went on and everyone seemed to close both eyes to it. Again he sought to prove his point by stating that only a few hundred people declared an income above a hundred thousand euros. He claimed that all this was going on while public servants have been enjoying good salaries. The moral of the story is that it was possible to prevent the fiscal deficit from reaching the levels it did, but the situation was ignored by many, while many others lined their pockets. One may subscribe or not subscribe to such an opinion; however this helps one to start to understand the reactions of a number of European governments who expect Greece to take drastic steps to put its house in order.

Irrespective of the validity of the claims made in respect of Greece by this analyst, his comments do provide food for thought. The events that we have experienced in the last 24 months that eventually culminated in the crisis in the financial markets and eventually the international recession, could be the result of complacency and corruption. There is now agreement that financial institutions, especially those that are multinational, could have been better regulated. There is also agreement that regulators could not understand one iota of a number of financial products that these institutions created. There is also agreement that there were some regulators who chose to ignore the signals that had started to emerge way before 2008, even though they did know better.

This has forced governments to rethink the rules and to seek to close any loopholes. The change in rules may not be as dramatic as one may fear or hope for (depending on one's perspective). But the message is very clear - the world's leading economies cannot afford another round of corporate scandals (let us not forget that the Enron case was less than a decade ago) and cannot afford another round of negative economic growth. The international recession is not yet behind us, and even if it were the scars will take very long to heal. Complacency and corruption can no longer be condoned. This is of course easier said than done; but the demand from society at large and the business sector is that rules are there for everyone and if there must be competition, then there must also be a level playing field for everyone.

Is there a lesson for Malta in all of this? I would say so. Clearly, there cannot be complacency. My fear is that, since the crisis in the financial markets and the international recession have not impacted so negatively as they did in other countries, we can easily become complacent and take things for granted. It is recognised internationally that our regulatory framework is a very good one. Moreover our regulators have done a very good job. This does not mean that we can now sit back. As a country we have not lost the reputation that we have built over the last decades of being a country that is hospitable to foreign investment but is not a safe have for illegal money. We now need to work harder to maintain that reputation and even enhance it.

Moreover, irrespective of whatever is said, government is trusted and our government's standing abroad is second to none. Malta simply does not have a credibility problem like other countries have. I know that some of us may not believe it. All one needs to do is speak to international investors and find out for oneself. On the other hand I do believe that the public sector needs to be controlled more as sometimes we run the risk that the public sector may take on the role of government, a role which does not belong to it.

Complacency and corruption are not our problem but we need to maintain our guard as otherwise, sooner or later they will become so.