Public debt in Germany grew slightly at the beginning of 2021.
Overall, the total debt of the federal, state, local and social security institutions at banks and private companies grew by 1.5 percent to 2205 billion euros at the end of the first quarter compared to the previous quarter.
“This corresponds to a per capita debt of 26,532 euros,” said the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden on Monday.
The increase is still mainly due to measures to cope with the corona pandemic, it said.
The federal government recorded the strongest increase in debt with an increase of two percent to 1,431.4 billion euros.
The federal states were in debt with 639.9 billion euros at the end of the first quarter, which corresponds to a minimal increase of 0.6 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.
The federal states showed a very different development: while Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt (each +3.9 percent) and North Rhine-Westphalia (+3.4 percent) showed the highest increases, Bremen (-12.8 percent) and Schleswig recorded the highest increases -Holstein (-3.3 percent) and Bavaria (-2.7 percent) saw the greatest declines.
At the end of the first quarter, the municipalities and municipal associations were in debt with 134 billion euros, which corresponds to an increase of 1.1 percent compared to the previous quarter.