LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's government unveiled its draft 2020 budget on Tuesday, projecting the country's first fiscal surplus in 45 years of democracy on solid growth and promising a gentle tax reduction for small firms and more taxes on bullfighting events.
"It is the first budget delivered with a surplus," Portugal's finance minister Mario Centeno told reporters. "Growing, consolidating public accounts and reducing debt is very rare worldwide."
The envisaged surplus of 0.2% of gross domestic product comes after a projected deficit of 0.1% for 2019.
The surplus will provide an extra push to alleviate Portugal's debt burden - still among the highest in the euro zone - but expected to drop to 116.2% of the nation's GDP from this year's 118.9%.
(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves and Catarina Demony; Writing by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Tom Hogue)
