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Scholz foresees new debts of more than 160,000 million euros in 2021
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There will probably be no relief soon
The heads of the federal and state governments will meet again on Wednesday to discuss how to proceed with the corona pandemic. An extension of the partial block seems almost certain. Finance Minister Scholz announces more aid for affected industries.
Due to the corona pandemic, the federal government wants to incur much more debt than initially planned for next year. While around € 96 billion in new loans were previously planned, loans are now expected to increase by more than € 60 billion.
secondUnfinance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) is planning at least 160 billion euros in new debt for next year, which is more than 60 billion euros more than previously known. Until now, Scholz had assumed a net debt of 96 billion euros. The newspaper “Bild” and the Reuters news agency report on the expected increase in debt.
The additional expense would result, on the one hand, from measures to deal with the corona pandemic. On the other hand, the expenses planned for 2020 would be postponed until next year. The new debt of 218 billion euros approved for this year is expected to be far from being exhausted, a representative of the coalition told Reuters.
The Finance Ministry listed the additional expenses in the presentation sent Sunday to the Bundestag budget politicians for their cleanup meeting starting Thursday. The settings for all ministries are numbered at 262 pages in the Reuters newspaper. The document does not contain a total of the new debt. The Finance Ministry declined to comment, but referred to the ongoing parliamentary procedure on the budget.
In its session from Thursday to Friday, the budget commission puts the final touches on the proposed budget for 2021. A representative of the coalition said that the new debt would amount to between 160 and 166 billion euros. Compared to Scholz’s filing, some pension titles would likely be canceled and interest expense set somewhat lower.
Ten billion euros more for vaccines and other corona measures
A representative of the coalition said that the budget proposal also contained six billion euros in capital for the railway. The money was intended for this year, but it did not come out. The precautionary title for corona-related measures such as vaccines has been increased by 10 billion euros, according to the coalition. As a result of the automobile summit, a future fund at the Ministry of Economy will be equipped with one billion euros. The Federal Foreign Office is receiving around 170 million euros more for humanitarian aid. The Ministry of Labor gets 750 million euros more for labor expenses like Hartz IV.
Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) should also receive significantly more money. For the extension of compensation payments under the Hospital Financing Law, 2,000 million euros are planned, for the delivery of FFP2 masks at a discount, 2,500 million euros, and for the acquisition of vaccines around 2,700 million euros.
The vice-leader of the parliamentary group Christian Dürr accused the coalition that the draft represented a lot of bureaucracy and increasingly high debts. “That’s the opposite of what we need now,” explained Dürr. “We cannot keep the fourth largest economy in the world running permanently on debt.”
