Portuguese government sees good news in higher tax revenue ahead of elections

Portugal's center-right government is citing a jump in tax revenue as evidence the economy is growing and proof that its crackdown on tax evasion is working.

With less than two months before a general election, the finance ministry said Tuesday that tax receipts between January and July were up almost 5 percent on the same period in 2014.

In July alone, tax revenue of just over 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) was the highest for that month since 2007 and was 11.7 percent up on July last year.

Opposition parties made no immediate comment on the figures.

After three years of recession that followed a 78 billion euro bailout in 2011, the economy is slowly healing, and the government is hoping the outlook will be bright enough to get re-elected.