As a result of the corona pandemic and the Ukraine war, the federal government is planning the second highest level of new debt in the history of the Federal Republic for the current year.

The draft budget for 2022 provides for a net borrowing of 138.94 billion euros, the Reuters news agency learned early on Friday morning from the budget committee of the Bundestag.

This is the result of the almost 16-hour so-called adjustment session, during which the budget holders put the finishing touches on the budget draft during the night.

The total expenditure is therefore estimated at 495.8 billion euros.

The Bundestag is to adopt the budget in early June.

Parliament has to suspend the debt brake for the third year in a row because the permissible borrowing has been exceeded by around 115.7 billion euros.

The budget spokesman for the traffic light groups said that the draft budget was marked by major global crises.

The coalition is acting decisively and setting priorities, explained Dennis Rohde (SPD), Sven-Christian Kindler (Greens) and Otto Fricke (FDP).

"We create security in the crisis, internationally and in Germany," said a joint statement.

“We invest in infrastructure, protect the climate, support small and medium-sized businesses, promote research, innovation and social cohesion.

We are also strengthening security, foreign and development policy.”

New debt below the record level of 2021

According to an overall overview of the key data available from Reuters, the new borrowing remains unchanged compared to the draft by Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP).

He had initially presented a draft budget with almost 100 billion euros in additional debt.

With a supplementary budget after the outbreak of the Ukraine war, almost 40 billion euros in loans were added.

Lindner remains below the record debt of 215.4 billion euros in 2021, but exceeds the 130.5 billion euros from the first Corona year 2020.

This does not include the fact that the federal government also wants to create a debt-financed special fund for better equipment for the Bundeswehr in the amount of 100 billion euros.

This should not be counted towards the debt brake.

However, the traffic light still needs the approval of the Union for the necessary amendment to the Basic Law.

The special fund will be set up with its own law and independently of the budget law.

The high level of new debt is justified by the costs of the corona pandemic and the consequences of the Ukraine war.

The relief packages for consumers and the economy to mitigate the high energy prices alone are estimated in the traffic light coalition at around 30 billion euros.

The corona pandemic is costing billions for vaccines, health insurance companies and corporate aid.

From 2023, the debt brake should come into effect again.

According to the current status, the federal government could then take on a good seven billion euros in new debt.