Germany balances budget for first time since 1969

Germany has balanced the federal budget for the first time in more than 40 years, helped by strong tax revenues and rock-bottom interest rates, but the extra leeway is unlikely to translate into spending that could boost weak eurozone growth.

Berlin had been aiming to achieve a schwarze Null – a balanced budget or one in the black – this year but the finance ministry announced on Tuesday it had got there in 2014, a year ahead of schedule.

It is the first time since 1969 that Germany has achieved the feat and is a domestic and European political fillip for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government, which wrote the goal into a coalition agreement in late 2013 and has preached budget discipline to Greece and other indebted eurozone countries.

Peter Tauber, general secretary of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party (CDU), said the budget was a historic success and sent a clear signal to the rest of Europe that Berlin was leading by example and only spending money in its coffers.

Read more: Germany balances budget for first time since 1969 | World news | The Guardian