BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s debt load won’t reach the level it did in the financial crisis a decade ago as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the finance minister said Tuesday, and it will still look better than that of Germany’s peers in the Group of Seven did before the virus outbreak.
Olaf Scholz was presenting to parliament a draft 2021 budget that foresees significant borrowing for the second consecutive year as Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, works to limit the economic fallout of efforts to contain COVID-19.
The crisis has derailed the government’s dedication to keeping its budget balanced, long a point of pride. After six years in the black, it is borrowing a net 217.8 billion euros ($253.7 billion) this year to finance rescue and stimulus packages and cover an expected shortfall in tax revenue. Next year, it plans to borrow a further 96.2 billion euros.
“If we didn’t act, we would have to use much more money, and at the same time squander the future of our country,” Scholz told lawmakers. “Not acting would be much more expensive than acting.”
Scholz noted that Germany’s debt load dropped below 60% of gross domestic product last year. “The debt ratio will not rise to the level it did in the last financial crisis,” he added. “Back then, our debt went up to over 80% of economic output; this time, according to current calculations, we will climb to about 75-76% … and that is a good sign that we will manage to get this debt ratio back down in the coming years.”
In comparison with Germany’s peers in the G-7 of leading industrial powers, Scholz said, “our debt ratio after the crisis will be lower than in all these countries before the crisis.”
The 2021 budget plan calls for spending of 413.4 billion euros next year, down from this year’s exceptionally high 508.5 billion euros, a figure which was swollen by spending on rescue packages.
Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for altering an email that the Justice Department relied on during its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Friday at rival Republicans who tried to repeal his statewide mask mandate, saying killing the order would be a ridiculous move comparable to abolishing speed limits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As some conservatives in South Carolina celebrated getting a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state past a legislative barrier and likely becoming law, they said they are not finished trying to end all abortions.
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe.