Quarterly budget surplus for first time since before economic crisis

The public finances have shown a quarterly surplus for the first time since before the financial crisis, cementing hopes that the Government will meet its budget deficit targets for the year.

The latest exchequer returns, published yesterday, showed a surplus of €197m for the three months to the end of March, an improvement of €2.51bn on last year, when a deficit of nearly €2.32bn was noted for the same period.

In basic terms, it shows the Government took in nearly €200m more than it spent during the first quarter.