Higher taxes have boosted public finances in Germany which
according to official data released today had a budget surplus of 0.6
percent of GDP in this year's first half .
The Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, said that Germany, Europe's biggest economy, ran a surplus of 8.5 billion euros in the January-June period. That's a slightly better performance than in the first half of 2012, when Germany posted its first six-month surplus in over three years.
The government's tax take totaled 321.4 billion euros, up 3.8 percent on the previous year as low unemployment helped push up income tax payments.
For the whole of last year, Germany had a surplus of 0.2 percent of GDP. That contrasts with deficits well above the official EU limit of 3 percent in several other eurozone countries.
Destatis said that state, regional, local and social security budgets "benefited from a generally good employment situation and a stable economic development in the first half of 2013 compared with other European countries."
The agency also said annual GDP growth is currently at 0.9 percent, confirming a preliminary estimate of 0.7% growth.
The Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, said that Germany, Europe's biggest economy, ran a surplus of 8.5 billion euros in the January-June period. That's a slightly better performance than in the first half of 2012, when Germany posted its first six-month surplus in over three years.
The government's tax take totaled 321.4 billion euros, up 3.8 percent on the previous year as low unemployment helped push up income tax payments.
For the whole of last year, Germany had a surplus of 0.2 percent of GDP. That contrasts with deficits well above the official EU limit of 3 percent in several other eurozone countries.
Destatis said that state, regional, local and social security budgets "benefited from a generally good employment situation and a stable economic development in the first half of 2013 compared with other European countries."
The agency also said annual GDP growth is currently at 0.9 percent, confirming a preliminary estimate of 0.7% growth.
0 comments:
Post a Comment