The German government is working intensively on solutions to solve its budget issues and its decision to impose a freeze on new spending commitments avoids putting a burden on future years, an economy ministry spokesperson told Reuters on Tuesday.

The finance ministry has frozen future spending pledges across almost the entire federal budget, a letter seen by Reuters showed, as it seeks a solution to a 60-billion-euro ($65 billion) hole in its spending plans. (Reporting by Holger Hansen; writing by Matthias Williams; editing by Madeline Chambers)