Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine is having an impact on federal budget planning.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) will present a draft for this year to the cabinet on Wednesday, which will limit new borrowing to 99.7 billion euros as planned.

But now not only the announced “Bundeswehr special fund” with a borrowing of 100 billion euros is added, but also an additional budget.

Manfred Schaefers

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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"Changes that are still pending will be introduced on the route," said government circles on Monday.

With the supplementary budget, the coalition wants to cushion the effects of the Ukraine war on the economy and consumers.

The federal government is likely to post new debt of more than 200 billion euros this year.

Last year, new debt was 215.4 billion euros.

It was so high not least because the traffic light pushed 60 billion euros into the energy and climate fund with a supplementary budget.

With this and other means, a total of 200 billion euros should be available for climate protection and the transformation of the economy in the coming years.

Federal government corrects its own draft

The supplementary budget is a rarely used instrument that the federal government can use to correct its own draft budget as long as MPs are discussing the figures.

Lindner was faced with the question of whether to incorporate the consequences of the Russian attack on Ukraine directly into his bill, which would have delayed the cabinet decision and thus the deliberations in the Bundestag by a few weeks, or whether to add another budget draft.

The latter gives MEPs the opportunity to discuss the core budget earlier.

Since the Bundestag elections have already postponed the adoption to the current year, this was probably a weighty argument.

In addition, the FDP politician can report such an interim success: In the executive talks with his cabinet colleagues, he pushed down the extremely high registrations so far that he is moving with the core budget within the framework of the old financial planning.

As in the previous year, there is a wide discrepancy between recorded and actual net borrowing.

The 100 billion euros that are made available to the German Armed Forces once to strengthen their defense readiness in addition to the 50 billion euros annually from the normal budget will flow out depending on the progress of the procurement program - but Lindner will already be taking on the new debts this year Books.

A constitutional amendment is necessary

The special fund requires an amendment to the Basic Law.

Further details are to be regulated in an establishment law.

More details are not yet known.

It was recently unclear whether these drafts will also be presented to the cabinet this Wednesday.

In the current year, the debt brake in the Basic Law will be suspended again due to the special corona emergency.

From next year onwards it should take effect again.

According to the new financial planning benchmarks, which the federal government is also due to adopt this week, new debt will fall significantly: to 7.5 billion euros in 2023. It is then expected to increase slightly: from 10.6 billion euros in 2024 to 13 7 billion euros in 2026.

The reserve of 48 billion euros will be completely used up in the next three years.

The repayment of the extra corona debt will begin in 2028 and will run for thirty years.

The associated burden on the budget is almost as high as the permissible new borrowing.