December 31, 2006	Sunday	Zilhaj 09, 1427

BERLIN, Dec 30: German tax revenues at the federal, state and local level will rise strongly in 2007, a leader of the IW economic think tank said on Saturday.

Winfried Fuest, finance policy expert at the Cologne-based IW institute, said tax revenues will rise by a total of 24 billion euros in 2007.

We're expecting the tax revenues gains to be about 24 billion euros, Fuest told Der Tagesspiegel newspaper He said Germany will thus be able to meet the European

Union's Stability Pact requirements again in 2007. He reckons that new borrowing will be about 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), well below the 3 per cent limit.

Separately, the president of Germany's BGA exporters' association Anton Boerner said on Friday exports grew by 13 per cent to 888 billion euros in 2006, the strongest rate of growth since 2000.

Germany remains the world's top exporter, Boerner said, adding export growth to Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East was especially strong in 2006. Exports to Russia and China grew by nearly 25 per cent in 2006, he said.—Reuters