President Barack Obama commented that if one were to use a medical analogy and compare the prevailing weak global economy to a sick patient, then he would say that after the G20 summit meeting in London one can declare that the patient's condition has stabilised.

The stock markets seem to have been impressed with the outcome and the final communiqué of the meeting. In the three weeks following the meeting, stock markets soared, although they now seem to be jittery again.

Over $1 trillion voted to assist the International Monetary Fund to support various countries, a total of $5 trillion committed by the major world economies to kick-start global economic activities and a commitment to reform financial markets regulations all seemed to please stock markets.

Yet, the realities facing the real world economy keep haunting us. On the same day of the summit, Swiss Re and Aviva, two major international insurance companies and the aircraft maker Bombardier, announced substantial job cuts to improve their deteriorating profitability.

So, it is no wonder that a few weeks after this conference many analysts are asking whether the results of the summit are more soothing to the financial services elite and to politicians than to the hard-pressed workers who increasingly fear for their jobs.

Only time will tell whether the threat of de-globalisation will continue to gain in strength as the political leaders, now also grappling with a global health crisis in addition to an economic one, face the realities of a despondent workforce shattered by the prospects of a prolonged recession. While there seems to be a consensus slowly building up that the worst phase of this world recession is probably over, this by no means signifies that there will be no further pain suffered by those on the receiving end of this downturn.

The patient's condition may have stabilised but he is by no means out of danger yet. The medicine that is being administered is still untested and could well lead to future side effects that will perpetuate the prevailing misery for years to come.

Spending our way out of the recession may be the most prescribed solution but the risks of uncontrolled public finances, and the inevitable high inflation that this brings with it, can easily suffocate a feeble economic recovery.

The outcome of the London summit hardly changes the strategy that Malta needs to adopt to come out of this difficult economic situation successfully. The tourism and manufacturing industries are showing signs of fatigue.

The economic and trade figures published recently show some worrying trends. Exports continue to decline, importation of capital goods is also falling and tourist figures so far this year are significantly worse then last year. But, this should serve to strengthen the government's determination to accelerate the reforms that the economy still needs.

We can rely on reaping benefits from some leakage of the trillions of euros that will be pumped in the world economy by the G20 countries. If their economies bounce back, that may also push our economy upwards.

In the meantime we should be preparing ourselves through further improvements in the country's competitiveness for the time when the world economy turns the corner to ensure that the Maltese economy will be among the first to benefit from the upturn.

However dark it may be at present, the dawn of an economic revival cannot be too far away.