Germany's Finance Ministry is urging cuts to future expenditure, despite the country's relatively sound budgetary position, according to an internal government document seen by dpa on Monday.
"New measures in line with the coalition agreement can only be initiated by reprioritizing within the separate plans," according to a 22-page presentation drawn up by the budget secretary, Werner Gatzer, for distribution to the other ministries.
New estimates that have downgraded economic growth predictions for the years up to 2023 are expected to create a budget shortfall of almost 25 billion euros (28.6 billion dollars).
The new estimates imply that Finance Minister Olaf Scholz will be short of 6.3 billion euros in the 2020 budget, 5.5 billion the following year, 9.6 billion in 2022 and 3.3 billion in the final year.
The official growth forecast for 2020 has been cut to 1.0 per cent from 1.8 per cent previously, with a resultant impact on tax revenues.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's grand coalition government has committed itself to sticking to a policy of incurring no new debts - known in Germany as the "black zero."
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