Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reports
The paper says that Germany generated a federal budget surplus in the low two-digit billions of euros with higher-than-expected tax revenues offset by lower-than-expected interest payment, without identifying the source of its information.
For some context, that should see the figure come just below the 2018 figure of €11.2 billion. The actual figure will be published later today.
This is a bit of a setback for those hoping for Germany to loosen the purse strings a little as such a low surplus will give more reason for lawmakers to not do so. That said, it's not like those hopes were that high to begin with anyway.
