Germany has realized a budget surplus for the first time since its reunification, the German Federal Statistical Office said Thursday.

The Wiesbaden-based office said the budget surplus of the German federal government stood at 1.2 billion euros (around 1.63 billion U.S. dollars) in the first six months of 2007.

The office said the federal revenue rose by 5.6 percent in the first half of 2007 compared to the same period of last year, resulting in a small surplus.

In the first six months of 2007, the revenue rose strongly as a result of increased tax revenues, while the expenditure increased only by 0.7 percent.

For the same period of 2006, the German federal budget saw a deficit of 23 billion euros (around 31.22 billion dollars), according to the statistical office.

The German federal budget has seen consistent deficits since Germany was reunited in October 1990.

Over the period of 2002-2005, Germany failed to meet the European Union's requirement of keeping budget deficits below 3 percent of its gross domestic product.