NICOSIA, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus posted a fiscal surplus for the seventh consecutive month in July, with the total standing at 695.8 million euros (766.11 million U.S. dollars), or 3.2 percent of GDP, in the first seven months of this year, according to a report by the statistical service Cystat published on Saturday.
The report said the surplus was up by 207.3 million euros, or by 29.79 percent, from a surplus of 488.5 million euros, in the first seven months of 2018, the Cystat report added.
The 2019 state budget provides for a total surplus of 3 percent of GDP for the whole year, with revenue estimated at 8.5 billion euros and expenditure at 7.9 billion euros.
The report said that total spending in the first seven months also rose by 8.7 percent compared with the respective period of 2018, while total revenue increased by 12.4 percent year-on-year.
Revenue increase came as a result of an increase of collection from income tax, Value Added Tax, taxes on production and capital transfer fees, according to the Cystat report.
Finance Minister Harris Georgiades has said that the Cypriot economy, with a projected growth of 3.4 percent this year, will remain one of the fastest growing economies of the European Union, after its recovery for the 2014 economic and banking crises and a 10 billion-euro bailout by the Eurogroup and the International Monetary Fund.
