FRANKFURT (AFX) - Germany's finance minister Peer Steinbrueck wants to reduce the country's budget deficit to zero by 2010 said German weekly Spiegel in a report on governmental talks to establish budgets for 2008 onwards.
In 2006, Germany's public deficit amounted to 46.5 bln eur, equivalent to 2.0 pct of GDP, the first year since 2001 that it has been below the 3.0 pct ceiling set by the EU.
A economic upturn has helped bring down the deficit via increased tax revenues and lower unemployment payouts. In addition, it has been supplemented by a 3 percentage points increase in value-added tax at the beginning of the year. Tyler.Sitte@thomson.com ts/hjp COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited