Handelsblatt reports that Germany’s preliminary budget numbers look very good indeed; they’re looking at a budget surplus of a couple of billion euros, the first since reunification (not counting the UMTS mobile phone licence auction in 2000). Real GDP growth of 2.5 per cent is forecast; most of the extra cash came from the rise in VAT and fiscal drag.
It certainly seems a great position to be in at the beginning of a downturn.
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January 20th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
As Deutschlandfunk put it a couple of days ago, it’s nice that the main economy in the Eurozone has returned to fulfilling the Maastricht criteria, hahah.
January 20th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Th Jws mst b cncctng sm nw xtrtn pln t rlv th Grmns f thr hrd-rnd mny. Wtch sm hlcst “srvvrs” grp r nthr s thm n S crt fr whtvr. Th crt wll llw th st nd wtch th Grmns ffr nthr sttlmnt r dl.
January 21st, 2008 at 10:46 am
I don’t think we want you here.
January 21st, 2008 at 11:07 am
Alex, I disemvowelled the offensive comment.
Economically, any downturn is still off on the horizon here.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:53 pm
[...] fiscal drag. It certainly seems a great position to be in at the beginning of a downturn." A Fistful Of Euros » Blog Archive » Germany: Has a Budget Surplus __________________ "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will [...]
March 31st, 2008 at 10:38 am
[...] the subject but it’s good enough as a pencil sketch. Germany seems well placed for this moment in the cycle: Germany’s preliminary budget numbers look very good indeed; they’re looking at a [...]