March 23 (SeeNews) - Albania's budget was in surplus of 18.8 billion leks ($166.7 million/151.4 million euro) in the first two month of the year, compared to 502 million leks deficit in the same period last year, official figures showed on Wednesday.
Consolidated budget revenue rose 26% to 87.6 billion leks, while expenditures fell by 1.8% to 68.8 billion leks in the January-February period, according to data published by the finance ministry.
Tax revenue increased by 24.8% to 83.5 billion leks, with value-added tax (VAT) proceeds up 36.8% to 29.6 billion leks.
The Albanian government has forecast economic growth of 4.1% and budget deficit equivalent to 100.9 billion leks, or 5.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the 2022 budget.
(1 euro = 120.738 leks)