Berlin, Dec 18 : Germany’s Minister of Finance Christian Lindner defended a supplementary budget of 60 billion euros ($67 billion) for climate protection and digitization.
“By no means it is a matter of funding general projects,” Lindner said, stressing that the money would only be used to cushion damage resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The fund’s resources are used in a targeted manner, for transformative investments,” Xinhua news agency quoted Lindner as saying in the Bundestag debate on the supplementary budget, which was approved by the new Olaf Scholz government on Monday.
Opposition parties accused the government of violating the country’s constitution by approving the reallocation of unused funds that were originally earmarked for fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
Due to the pandemic, Germany’s so-called debt brake, which stipulates that federal and state budgets must generally be balanced without revenues from borrowing, was temporarily suspended but is to apply again from 2023.Lindner confirmed the government’s plans to resume compliance with the debt brake, pointing out that many investments had been put on hold because of the pandemic.”We must not lose time in the transformation process,” he added, “not only people need a booster, but also the economic development.”ksk/
German Finance Minister defends Supplemental Budget
The so-called German debt brake was temporarily suspended due to the pandemic.It stipulates that both federal and state budgets should be balanced with no borrowings.However, it will resume in 2023. Lindner confirmed that the government plans to restore compliance with its debt brake and pointed out the fact that many investment had been placed on hold due to the pandemic.
He said, “We cannot lose time in transformation,” adding that “not only do people need an economic boost, but also for the development of the economy.”
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