Tax & Spend

Germany to Have €5 Billion Extra Budget Leeway in 2024

  • Borrowing rules permit additional new debt during a downturn
  • Economy ministry to revise this year’s GDP forecast to -0.4%

Christian Lindner.

Photographer: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg
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Germany’s federal government will have room to increase net borrowing by around €5 billion ($5.3 billion) next year due to a mechanism that permits additional new debt during an economic downturn.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner had penciled in net borrowing of €16.6 billion for 2024, bringing the federal government’s finances back in line with a constitutional limit known as the “debt brake” after it was suspended during the pandemic and the energy crisis.