Germany’s seasonally adjusted budget surplus was 1.7 per cent of the country’s GDP in the second quarter (Q2), down from 2.0 per cent in the previous three months, data from the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat showed on Tuesday.
Germany has been running large budget surpluses for years and is now under pressure from other euro zone countries, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to spend more on long-overdue investment to help prevent an economic slowdown in the euro zone’s biggest economy, reports Reuters.
Unadjusted for seasonal swings, the budget surplus was even higher at 3.2 per cent of GDP, in the second quarter, up from 2.2 per cent in the first three months.