Surplus
a.k.a. Budget surplus, Trade surplus
Having more coming in than going out, as with a government budget or a country's trade.
In plain English
Having more coming in than going out, as with a government budget or a country's trade.
A surplus is the opposite of a deficit. A budget surplus means a government took in more in taxes than it spent. A trade surplus means a country exported more than it imported.
Trade surpluses can support a currency, because foreigners need to buy it to pay for the country's goods; think of Germany, Japan or China. But big, persistent surpluses can also draw accusations of an unfairly cheap currency and spark trade tensions.
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