Britain reported its first trade surplus with European Union countries since November 1995, or before the euro was introduced as a common currency.
Money for these improvements comes from a $500 million surplus in the unions' health insurance reserve fund, which is managed by the city and its unions, but is financed by city contributions.
Mr Gosper says he is confident the financial forecasts for 2015 will be be met, and that there may even be a surplus for English rugby union's governing body, the RFU, to invest in the game.
Since then his administration has produced balanced budgets, year-end surpluses, debt reductions, workforce reductions, union givebacks and higher credit ratings.
Free schools are being opened in parts of England where there are surpluses of places, a teachers' union says.
The trade surplus with the 27-nation European Union, China's biggest trading partner, fell 11.6 percent to $10.6 billion.
The absence of any controls on capital – removed as part of the process of setting up monetary union – meant the trade surpluses generated by the stronger economies were re-cycled into Mediterranean property speculation.
The European Union will also run a surplus, of 1.1% of GDP.
Michael Mulgrew, the president of the teachers' union, said that a $300 million surplus in the department's budget seemed to have somehow disappeared.
Cooperating could, after all, depress wages of union members, and availability of surplus labour might weaken trade unions' bargaining power.
