Due to the aid packages under the coronavirus crisis, German government debt is increasing significantly. The Ministry of Finance expects the debt to total economic output ratio to be 75.25% by the end of the year. This is clear from the “Stability Program 2020”, which the federal government will present to the European Commission in late April.

Finance Minister Olaf Scholz already hinted at a similar value earlier this week. The report is expected to be adopted by the Cabinet on April 22.

Maastricht’s European treaties actually set the debt ratio to be up to 60% of GDP. Germany met the stability criteria for the first time since 2002, last year when the share fell to 59.8%.

According to the preliminary forecast, the ministry expects a deficit of 7.25% over gross domestic product this year at the federal, provincial and local levels. The reasons for this are the “highly expansionary fiscal policy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic” and the significant declines in growth. However, investment in infrastructure is also expected to rise to a record level, for example.