Connecticut Comptroller Kevin Lembo says the state’s General Fund will end the year with a surplus of $116.4 million, thanks to increased collections in sales, inheritance and petroleum taxes.
Lembo said Friday the state economy is recovering, especially in exports for fuel cells and aerospace components. Those industries have held up better against the economic downtown, and Lembo wants to focus on them as an area of future growth.
“Connecticut’s focus must include fuel cells and transportation – industries that have flourished when the rest of our economy floundered,” Lembo said. “When jobs were still bleeding across virtually all industries, Connecticut’s exports increased at a rate of 14.7 percent in 2010.”
Lembo also said he is confident the state’s 9 percent unemployment should move downward in the near future. The state’s data shows it has recovered 28,900 jobs of the 118,400 jobs lost in the recession.
