A recurring theme in the economic debate that goes on in this country is whether the slowdown in certain sectors of economic activity is over and therefore we are on the way to recovery.

This is not an issue that baffles just us Maltese. Italy has its fair share of problems to establish the real growth rate in the economy and the real level of the public sector deficit. The United States first could not decide whether it was in recession and, when it thought that it had got out of it, there were some who feared that there would be yet another dip in economic activity.

It should therefore come as no surprise that even here in Malta people continually ask the question as to whether last year's negative growth in the gross domestic product is being reversed this year. This is a very fair question.

However, the difficulty does not lie in this question; it lies rather in the very evident attempt by some to downplay anything that looks positive in the economy and blow out of all proportions anything that may look negative.

One starts to ask whether there is an attempt by some (because of some political, social or economic expediency) to create instability in the economy.

The information that emerges from the last Central Bank quarterly is a case in point - GDP in the first quarter this year rose by 1.4 per cent after accounting for inflation. This included data on the gross domestic product data for the first quarter of this year.

This had already been established through the data published by the National Statistics Office and has now been confirmed by the Central Bank. Still there were some who had doubted the NSO figures only to find out that the Central Bank has come up with similar data.

Another case in point is the share price of some companies quoted on the Malta Stock Exchange.

One still has to understand why a shareholder would want to sell 50 shares in a company at a price that is lower than the market price to be followed by someone else the following day (unless it happens to be the same person) who sells 100 shares at an even lower price. This not only pushes down the share price of that company for no apparent business reason, but also wipes out some of the wealth that a number of savers and investors would have accumulated over the years.

In fact, the small size of the transactions does give one to understand that it is not the case of someone wishing to cash in by realising his or her stock holdings, but simply an attempt to play the market in some perverse way. It is as if someone is seeking to have fun by making people angry, hoping to gain from such a situation without recognising the consequences of such a development.

This is why I titled this week's contribution "Summer follies". I would prefer to liken what is happening to the fires that are sometimes lit in summer in areas where there is a great deal of dry vegetation.

One lights the fire that soon gets out of hand and does not realise the full impact of his summer prank.

Is something similar happening in our country's economy this summer? This opinion can be confirmed when further assessing the economic data released by the Central Bank. In its quarterly review it gives an extensive rundown of how various sectors in the economy performed. Some very interesting considerations emerge.

For example, turnover in the manufacturing industry (excluding the electronics sub-sector) continued to grow to prove yet again (as if there is still someone out there who still refuses to believe it) the resilience of our manufacturing sector and that the sector is not exclusively dependent on the electronics industry.

Another example is the growth in private consumer spending. Somehow there are those who insist that the level of internal demand has gone down in this country, leading to an element of pessimism among the local commercial community. The data proves this to be wrong as private consumer spending is seen to be a major contributor to the growth in GDP.

And speaking of pessimism, the quarterly review also gives the results of the business perceptions survey held among the business sector. The survey showed signs of an economic recovery led by the manufacturing exports sector that would then help local market firms through the multiplier effect.

However, the survey also indicates that it all depends on the developments in international economy, on the developments in the international economy, as this is seen to have an ever-increasing impact on our economy.

There is no doubt that managing an economy is becoming more complex than it used to be. This is why we cannot run the risk of creating instability internally to add on to the instability that there already is in the international economy.

One trusts that the actions of some that are seeking to create this instability are the result of their inability to cope with the summer heat and not a premeditated attempt to turn us into an "Argentina".