Zoom Image

Advertising for 49-Euro-Ticket: Allocations for public transport

Photo: Sebastian Gollnow / dpa

The debt of the German state rose in the middle of the year. At the end of June, the federal, state, local and social security funds, including all extra budgets, were in the chalk with 2417 billion euros. This is 2.1 percent or 49.0 billion euros more than at the end of 2022, the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday. Debts to the non-public sector are taken into account, which include, for example, banks and private companies in Germany and abroad.

One reason for the increase is that the liabilities of local public transport companies are now included in the calculation. "The background to this is that public transport companies will receive allocations and subsidies from the federal and state governments to finance the Deutschland-Ticket, which will be introduced on May 1, 2023," the Federal Office explained.

"As a result, they are no longer financed predominantly by their sales revenues and are invariably classified as extra households according to the concept of financial statistics, which means that their debts are included in the statistics." Without this effect, the debt level would be 8.4 billion euros lower.

Ukraine war drives up federal debt

The Federal Government's liabilities rose at an above-average rate of 3.0 percent or 49.2 billion euros. "The reasons for the increase were a higher issuance of securities and an increased need for financing as a result of the energy crisis in connection with the Russian attack on Ukraine," it said. For example, the liabilities of the Energy Economic Stabilisation Fund, which was established in November 2022, almost doubled from 29.6 to 59.8 billion euros. The debt of the Bundeswehr Special Fund increased by 55.7 percent to 1.2 billion euros, while that of the Corona Economic Stabilization Fund fell by 12.2 percent to 46.0 billion euros.

The countries are in the chalk with 597.7 billion euros, a minus of 1.5 percent compared to the end of 2022. The sharpest declines were recorded for Bavaria (minus 18.1 percent), Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (minus 11.6 percent) and Schleswig-Holstein (minus 6.0 percent). "The decline in Bavaria is mainly due to a maturing bond, which has not yet had to be fully refinanced in view of temporarily available liquidity," it said. "In the other two countries, too, the declines resulted from a lower issuance of securities."

Significantly less indebtedness in social security

The liabilities of municipalities and associations of municipalities increased by 6.4 percent to 149.8 billion euros. The municipalities in Baden-Württemberg recorded the highest increase (plus 12.0 percent), followed by Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (plus 10.1 percent) and Saxony (plus 7.5 percent). Social security debt has almost halved – from 21.6 to 10.9 million euros.

mmq/Reuters