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Magdeburg (dpa / sa) - The year 2020 caused a big minus in Saxony-Anhalt's household books.

Finance Minister Michael Richter (CDU) told the German Press Agency that the country received 777 million euros less than planned.

The preliminary annual financial statements will be the subject of the black-red-green cabinet on Tuesday.

According to Richter, the tax revenue alone was around 740 million euros lower.

The main reason for the break-in is the corona crisis, which has another curious effect.

Because Saxony-Anhalt had to cope with comparatively minor slumps due to its economic structure, it is so good in the state comparison that it has to give up money in the state financial equalization: 60 million euros are therefore lost, as the Ministry of Finance has calculated.

Various economic institutes have been forecasting for months that Saxony-Anhalt - like the east as a whole - will be less affected by the Corona crisis due to its lower export dependency, but will not benefit as much from the recovery and growth afterwards.

How much money Saxony-Anhalt will actually be missing in the cash register has not yet been finalized.

A transfer from the European Union could at least lighten the situation a little.

According to the Ministry of Finance, audits are still ongoing for funds from the EU regional development fund.

Should they still be paid out in full, 200 million euros more would be on the income side.

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The fact that Saxony-Anhalt did not slide even deeper into the red last year is also due to the fact that it spent less.

According to the Ministry of Finance, 448 million euros remained in planned investments, mainly due to postponed major investments.

In addition, around 2500 positions in the state service planned in the budget were not filled.

Savings: 138 million euros.

Finance Minister Richter had already announced before the turn of the year that the corona-related tax losses would have to be offset with new debts.

How much the country has to pump will be clear in March with the final annual accounts.

There are actually reserves such as the tax fluctuation reserve for unplanned slumps in income.

However, these were completely used up by the black-red-green coalition for the current double budget 2020/2021.

Although the Basic Law makes it difficult to take on new debt, exceptions are allowed for crises such as the current pandemic.