Germany’s National Debt Burden Declined Last Year, FAZ Reports

Germany’s Finance Ministry estimated the national debt burden fell to 79 percent of gross domestic product last year on lower-than-expected bad bank debts, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said in a preview of an article to be published tomorrow.

The newspaper cited Deputy Finance Minister Steffen Kampeter. Bad bank debts dropped to 8.3 percent of GDP, according to a written answer by Kampeter to questions posed by Otto Fricke of the Free Democratic Party, the FAZ said.