German Surplus in Budget Rises to 0.6% of GDP

Official figures show Germany’s budget surplus rose to 0.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first half of the year, boosted by higher tax income.

The government pulled in 321.4bn euros in taxes, 3.8% more than a year ago thanks to its steady employment rate.

The German Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, said the surplus was 8.5bn euros (£7.3bn; $11.3bn) in the period between January and June.

The figure was higher than the surplus for the same period a year ago.

For the whole of last year, Germany’s budget surplus was 0.2% of GDP.

Budget surpluses are rare among European countries. Many have deficits of more than 3% of GDP, despite an European Union limit of that level.

via BBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza