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Germany below new debt target

December 20, 2013

The German government has said it doesn't need all the money it has penciled in for 2013 in terms of fresh borrowing. Berlin noted income and corporate tax revenues would help it to stay below the full-year target.

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Piles of euro banknotes
Image: Fotolia

The German Finance Ministry confirmed Friday the government would need to borrow less money than planned this year as it prepared to do without any fresh loans in 2015.

The ministry's monthly report stated original plans called for new borrowing in 2013 of 25.1 billion euros ($34.3 billion), adding that Berlin now "appeared assured" it would not need all of that. However, the report failed to specify just how much could be saved.

The Finance Ministry pointed to continuously low unemployment which had had a positive impact on tax revenues so far.

Staying the course

The monthly survey indicated tax income in the first 11 months had gone up, with expectations for December being particularly high not least due to brisk seasonal business.

German Budget Forecast

In November alone, the government tax revenue was up 3.9 percent, compared with the same month a year earlier. Over the January-November period, revenues rose by 3.3 percent year-on-year, totaling almost 495 billion euros.

The Finance Ministry said the domestic economy was in a healthy state overall, although industry had a rather slow start to the final quarter of the year. But a series of recent business indicators suggested the temporary lull would be overcome before long.

hg/kms (AFP, Reuters)