A surplus of 8.5 billion HK dollars (1.09 billion U.S. dollars) was recorded in the government 's financial results in October, reducing the deficit for the first seven months to 21.9 billion HK dollars (2.81 billion U.S. dollars), the Financial Services & the Treasury Bureau said Thursday.

October saw 28 billion HK dollars (3.59 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue and 19.5 billion HK dollars (2.5 billion U.S. dollars) in spending. The improved financial results in the month were mainly due to the collection of profits tax.

For the seven months ended October, spending amounted to 132.8 billion HK dollars (17.03 billion U.S. dollars) and revenue to 110.9 billion HK dollars (14.22 billion U.S. dollars). The fiscal reserves stood at 288.7 billion HK dollars (37.01 billion U.S. dollars).

Given the outrun so far, Hong Kong is on track to achieve a surplus of 5.6 billion HK dollars (717.95 million U.S. dollars) as estimated in the 2006-07 Budget. However, it is too early to make a revised forecast for the year, the bureau said.

Source: Xinhua