BERLIN: Germany public finances were back in the black in 2014, when Europe’s biggest economy clocked up a surplus equivalent to 0.6 percent of overall output, official data showed on Tuesday.
The combined budgets of the German government, regional states, municipal authorities and welfare system showed an overall surplus of 18 billion euros ($20.4 billion), the federal statistics office Destatis calculated in a statement.
It was the first time since unification in 1990 that Germany’s public finances have been in the black. The surplus represented 0.6 percent of the country’s overall gross domestic product (GDP) of 2.904 trillion euros, Destatis said.
In 2013, Germany had achieved a balanced budget in its public finances.
The 2014 surplus resulted from the difference between revenues of 1.294 trillion euros and expenditure of 1.276 trillion euros, the statisticians said.
The government budget alone showed a surplus of 11.4 billion euros, compared with a deficit of 4.5 billion euros a year earlier.
The regional states’ finances also swung to a surplus of 1.9 billion euros in 2014 from a deficit of 2.8 billion euros in 2013.
