Finance Ministry: state budget in record surplus in January

The Czech state budget in January ended in a surplus of 42.4 billion crowns, the highest surplus since 2000, the Finance Ministry said on Friday. Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek said the figure did not take into account a hike in the VAT rates which came into effect on January 1, raising the dual VAT rates by one percent. The target deficit for the entire 2013 was set at 100 billion crowns; last year, the deficit reached 101 billion, or around 3 percent of the GDP.