BERLIN (MNI) – Germany’s public deficit will fall below 0.5% of GDP
next year, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Friday.
“We will meet the requirements of the Stability and Growth Pact,
namely a nearly balanced public budget of below 0.5% of GDP next year,”
Schaeuble said in a budget speech to parliament.
Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann also shares this forecast, the
minister said.
For the current year, the ministry expects a public deficit of
around 1% of GDP, a spokesman told Market News International.
Still, Schaeuble cautioned that the economic growth outlook “is no
longer as favorable as it appeared half a year ago. That is the big
worry.” Nevertheless, “the real economic data are not so bad, despite
all the uncertainties,” he added.
Commenting on the Eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis, Schaeuble again
rejected “quick solutions” via the printing press or a collectivization
of debt.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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