Money worries
July 21, 2009
Germany's government estimates that the country' national debt will grow by around 126 billion euros ($179 billion) this year, reaching a total of over 1.7 trillion euros.
The new figures were voiced aloud in German parliament, after an opposition liberal (FDP) politician, Carl-Ludwig Thiele, criticized the government for failing to take proper measures to stop Germany's soaring debt.
"The grand coalition came to power promising to clean up the country's finances, yet now they are advocating tax cuts and the biggest increase in national debt in our country's history," the liberal politician complained in the German house of parliament.
Over 20,000 euros per person
The government in Berlin, like many of its counterparts around the world, has had to borrow and spend heavily this year in light of the global economic downturn. The German government has invested heavily in stricken banks, and a handful of industrial companies too.
It has also had to dig deep in a bid to stimulate public spending, keeping taxes low and offering schemes like the controversial car scrapping bonus program, which offered a 2,000 euro cash incentive for people to trade in old bangers for shiny new cars.
2010 is set to be an equally expensive year for Germany, with the government planning to take on new loans with a net value of 86.1 billion euros.
German citizens will go into 2010 owing 20,773 euros per capita, if the government predictions prove to be correct.
Younger people are set to foot the bill for Germany's growing national debt. According to a study by the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI), people born between 1980 and 2000 will be hardest hit by Germany's 1.7 trillion euro overdraft.
msh/dpa/Reuters
Editor: Neil King