BERLIN, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Tax revenues in Germany were 5.6 percent higher in September compared with the same period last year, according to the monthly report by the German Ministry of Finance (BMF) published on Monday.
The main reason for the development was that almost all major national and state taxes combined, such as income tax, wage tax and capital yields tax, recorded "high increases" compared with September last year, according to the ministry.
The strongest increases in revenues were recorded in the energy tax, the motor vehicle tax and the insurance tax. On the other hand, revenues from aviation taxes decreased by 2.3 percent and even 14.6 percent in tobacco tax, the BMF report showed.
In the period from January to September, total tax revenues in Germany amounted to around 255.7 billion euros (285.5 billion U.S. dollars), increasing 0.9 percent year-on-year, according to the report.
The restrained economic development in Germany was "primarily" due to the weakness of Germany's export-oriented industry, the BMF noted.
Already last week, the German government announced that real gross domestic product (GDP) in Germany would only grow by 0.5 percent in 2019 and by 1.0 percent in 2020.
On the other hand, the government expected the inland economy to continue to generate "positive momentum". Supported by the solid development of the labor market, private consumption was making a "positive contribution to the overall economic upturn."
The BMF report noted that the development on the German labor market had been stable. However, in view of the economic slowdown, unemployment was expected to rise slightly in the coming year, giving an annual average unemployment rate of 5.1 percent.
Nominal exports of goods fell by 1.8 percent in August compared with the previous month, after a growth of 0.8 percent in July. Compared with the same month of the previous year, exports of goods were even 3.9 percent lower.
"The weak export performance should continue to reflect foreign trade risks and uncertainties as well as subdued global economic demand," the BMF stressed.
In contrast, nominal imports of goods were 0.5 percent higher in August than in the previous month but 3.1 percent lower than in the same month of the previous year.
