I refer to the news item ‘In surplus after 36 years’, (The Sunday Times of Malta, April 2) which stated that last year Malta registered its first financial surplus since 1981, of €8.9 million, and described by our Prime Minister as a “Maltese economic miracle achieved without resorting to austerity”.

Unfortunately my ‘good news’ feeling only lasted until I arrived at the back page of the newspaper which was dedicated to the trauma and very serious suffering a 74-year-old lady went through when she slipped and fell on a newly built ramp on a pavement in Paceville.

I can only sympathise and feel sorry for the poor lady and hope she recovers fully from her injuries.

I share her concern for pavements to be made safer and I can add a few more broken and unsafe pavements in St Julian’s, one of which I reported to the council nearly a year ago, but nothing has been done.

Now I know why, because when the newspaper contacted the local authorities asking about the general state of the pavements in St Julian’s the reply was that “no funds were allocated to the committee for the maintenance of roads and pavements”.

Now if that is not “resorting to austerity”, I don’t know what is.