BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s finance minister is working on a debt-financed supplementary budget worth more than 60 billion euros ($71 billion) which will push up annual net new borrowing to a record high of over 240 billion euros this year, two sources said on Friday.
The massive fiscal push is needed due to a longer-than-expected COVID-19 lockdown which increases costs to help struggling companies as well as workers on job-protection schemes, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is expected to present the supplementary budget for this year and the fiscal framework for 2022 next Wednesday.
($1 = 0.8415 euros)
(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Caroline Copley)
