Germany's Finance Minister Christian Lindner is planning net new debt of 16.6 billion euros ($18.06 billion) for the 2024 federal budget, which includes record spending on defence, finance ministry sources said on Monday.
The financial plan until 2027 shows new borrowing falling to 15.0 billion euros by 2027. Finance ministry sources estimate there is still a gap of 14.4 billion euros in the midterm budget plan.
Expenditures of 445.7 billion euros are planned for next year, after 476.3 billion euros in expenditures estimated for 2023.
The budgetary plans include 54.2 billion euros in investments in 2024.
Germany plans to comply with NATO's 2% of gross domestic product target for military spending in 2024, with 51.8 billion euros budgeted for defence and 19.2 billion in extrabudgetary funds for the armed forces.
The German Finance Ministry aims to submit a first draft of the 2024 federal budget and for financial planning on Wednesday, after postponing presentations initially set for March and June due to disputes inside the ruling three-party coalition.
The German parliament suspended the constitutionally enshrined debt brake between 2020 and 2022 to allow for extra spending in response to the pandemic and the effects of the war in Ukraine.
This year, the debt brake was reimplemented. The year 2024 will be the second consecutive year following the pandemic in compliance with the debt break, limiting the budget deficit to 0.35% of gross domestic product.
($1 = 0.9191 euros) (Reporting by Holger Hansen. Writing by Maria Martinez. Editing by Rachel More)
