Germany runs up record budget surplus

FRANKFURT: Germany notched up a surplus in its public finances of nearly 24 billion euros last year, its largest since reunification in 1990, official data showed Thursday.

The country´s federal, state and local governments together achieved an overall surplus of 23.7 billion euros ($25 billion) last year, according to Germany´s statistics office Destatis.

"In absolute terms, this was the highest surplus achieved by general government since German reunification," it said in a statement. Measured against gross domestic product (GDP), the surplus amounted to 0.8 percent of overall output, the statisticians calculated.