The surplus hit EUR 181m at the end of June; the adopted budget documents for 2018 forecast a surplus of EUR 51m for the whole year, follows from a budget implementation report released by the government on Thursday.

If the trend continues, the surplus is projected to reach EUR 227m at the end of the year.

In January-June, budget revenue, at EUR 4.75bn, was 4.4% higher than in the same period last year, whereas expenditure grew at a slower pace, 1.8%, to EUR 4.57bn.

Revenue was buoyed by a 6.9% increase in tax revenue, the main source of budget funds, mainly due to a solid labour market, higher consumption and better corporate performance.

On the expenditure side, the wage bill rose by 5.8% but interest payments declined by over 8% on the back of active debt management.

Public debt also declined considerably, dropping to 63% of GDP from 66.4% of GDP at the end of last year.

While the report stresses that the end-year figure may differ due to outstanding debt payments, new borrowing is not scheduled.