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Due to the surprisingly strong economic growth at the end of 2020, the corona crisis left a smaller hole in the state treasury than previously assumed.
The federal, state, local and social security sectors together spent 139.6 billion more than they earned, as the Federal Statistical Office announced in Berlin on Wednesday.
An initial estimate in January came to a minus of 158.2 billion euros.
"That was the first deficit since 2011 and the second-highest deficit since German unification, only exceeded by the record deficit of 1995, in which the fiduciary debts were taken over into the state budget," explained the statisticians.
One reason for the correction: Europe's largest economy grew faster at the end of 2020 than previously assumed.
Despite the lockdown, the gross domestic product increased by 0.3 percent compared to the previous quarter from October to December, after an earlier estimate in January only showed a mini-growth of 0.1 percent.
As a result, the slump in 2020 as a whole, at 4.9 percent, was somewhat smaller than previously indicated at 5.0 percent.
Still, it is the sharpest decline since the 2009 financial crisis.
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The deficit in the state budget corresponds to a deficit of 4.2 percent of the gross domestic product.
The European Maastricht rules actually provide for an upper limit of three percent.
"However, the application has been suspended for 2020 and 2021," it said.
The reason for this is the corona pandemic.
In order to prevent an even more serious recession, the state countered with massive economic aid such as the temporary VAT cut, which tore holes in the coffers.
Income fell by 3.0 percent to 1,563 billion euros, while expenditure rose by 9.3 percent to 1,702.6 billion euros.
For this year, the federal government is expecting economic growth of 3.0 percent, which should also reduce the deficit in the state treasury.
The pre-crisis level is not expected to be reached again until mid-2022.