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Debt clock of the "Federation of Taxpayers"
Photo: Christoph Soeder / dpa
Thanks to negative interest rates, the federal government again earned billions in debt this year.
When issuing federal securities to finance the budget, including special funds, "payments totaling around 5.855 billion euros were received."
This emerges from a reply from State Secretary for Finance Florian Toncar (FDP) to a request from Bundestag member Christian Görke (left).
Because of the high corona costs, the federal government borrowed the record sum of around 483 billion euros on the financial market in 2021.
The average yield on the federal securities issued was therefore minus 0.56 percent.
Nevertheless, the auctions were oversubscribed 1.7 times.
"Despite negative returns, German bonds go away like hot cakes," said Görke.
Top marks for federal bonds
Experts assume that the environment for the new Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) will remain favorable. "The financing conditions for the federal government remain excellent," said NordLB economist Bernd Kampen. "We are also expecting negative returns in the coming year." This is not least due to the fact that the European Central Bank (ECB) is not likely to end its zero interest rate policy before 2023. However, if the pandemic is over and the economy improves again, yields could pick up from the second half of the year.
For the coming year, the responsible finance agency plans to issue 410 billion euros.
The federal government is very popular with investors, as its creditworthiness is given the top AAA rating by all major rating agencies.
In addition, the ECB is acting on a large scale as a buyer of federal securities, which is further depressing yields.
rai / Reuters
