Portugal Posts Biggest Budget Surplus Since Start of Euro

(Bloomberg) -- The Portuguese government’s fourth budget surplus since the introduction of the euro in 1999 is also its biggest. The third-quarter reading of 3.6 percent was the second-highest in the euro area after Malta, and according to Joao Duque, a finance professor at the University of Lisbon’s School of Economics and Management, is easily explained: Stronger economic growth along with lower public investment and a heavy tax burden have resulted in higher levels of government revenue.

To contact the reporter on this story: Henrique Almeida in Lisbon at halmeida5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Jana Randow, Zoe Schneeweiss

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