BERLIN, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Germany’s budget committee finalised the 2027 budget, including more than €210 billion ($221.56 billion) in total new borrowing, the second-highest level since World War Two, people familiar with the issue said on Friday.
The committee agreed the package in the early hours of the morning after weeks of negotiations that saw plans for taxes on plastics and sweetened drinks as well as cuts to social security dropped or delayed to secure agreement.
A budget document seen by Reuters provided for spending of €561 billion and investment spending of €62 billion.
Total new borrowing reached €210.4 billion, just under the record €215.4 billion recorded in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, the figures showed. That included new borrowing of €123 billion from the core budget, which does not include additional borrowing authorised under special measures to allow greater spending on infrastructure and defence agreed last year.
Late on Wednesday, officials in Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition agreed to scrap a proposed tax on plastic packaging materials that had been agreed by cabinet in July, and to delay a tax on sugared drinks until 2028. A planned cut to an electricity tax that had been championed by Merz was also delayed.
They also agreed to roll back plans to cut benefits for the children of low-income families.
(Reporting by Holger Hansen, James Mackenzie; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Thomas Derpinghaus)
