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Finance Minister Scholz: Almost a hundred billion euros in new loans for the federal government
Photo: TOBIAS SCHWARZ / AFP
Due to the economic consequences of the corona crisis, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) wants to take on around 96 billion euros in new debt in the federal budget in 2021.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the debt brake anchored in the Basic Law will also be suspended in the coming year.
The crisis should not be saved afterwards.
This means that the specifically planned new debt for the coming year is slightly below the initial planning according to the tax estimate around a week ago.
At that time, according to SPIEGEL information from the Ministry of Finance, the federal government would take out around one hundred billion euros in new loans in 2021, maybe a little more.
In the current year new borrowing is at a record level of around 218 billion euros.
In the fight against the pandemic-induced recession, the federal government has decided on packages worth billions to keep jobs and companies, and it is also about investments in future technologies.
In addition, the municipalities are relieved.
In addition, there are grants to stabilize social security contributions or to the Federal Employment Agency because of the significant extension of short-time work benefits.
The Ministry of Finance said: "Doing nothing would be much more expensive".
A repayment schedule is again associated with the new net borrowing.
The debt repayment is planned from 2026 to 2042.
According to the key points, federal spending in 2021 will be 413.4 billion euros.
That is almost 19 percent less than this year.
However, the relevant expenditure for aid packages, for example, has an impact this year.
According to key points, social spending will increase in the coming year.
More money is also planned for the transport and defense budget.
Economic output in Germany collapsed in the spring due to the lockdown.
The federal government expects the gross domestic product (GDP) to decline by 5.8 percent for the year as a whole.
This would be the worst slump in German post-war history to date.
This has massive consequences for tax revenues.
According to the latest special tax estimate, the federal, state and local governments will have to get by with significantly less tax income in the coming year than expected in May.
A significant recovery in the economy is expected next year, but the pre-crisis level will not be reached until 2022.
Scholz plans to no longer make use of the exemption from the debt brake from 2022.
Even after the debt brake, however, new debts are allowed to a lesser extent.
According to the financial plan, debts of 10.5 billion euros are planned for 2022, 6.7 billion in 2023 and 5.2 billion in 2024.
The Ministry of Finance also sees a "need for action" amounting to billions from 2022 so that the debt limit can be adhered to again.
In other words: either the income is increased, for example through tax increases - or the expenditure is reduced through savings packages.
But a lot depends on how quickly the economy recovers.
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