Berlin (Reuters) – The German Minister of Finance, Lars Klingbeil, asked the ministries to prepare significant savings plans in order to fill a hole of more than 30 billion euros in the 2027 budget, according to a letter consulted by Reuters on Friday.
The German government approved in July a 2026 budget draft marked by record investments and a tripling of the use of borrowing from last year, in order to strengthen infrastructure and defense.
Lars Klingbeil warned that budgetary pressures would increase from 2027 and called for a “full examination of tasks and expenses”.
The Public Finance Sanitation Strategy of the German Government is based on both a stimulation of economic activity by record public investments and incentive measures in favor of private capital, as well as on structural spending reductions.
Lars Klingbeil proposed to achieve, in the 2027 budget, savings representing at least 1% of federal spending.
“Everything that is desirable is not necessarily financial,” wrote the minister in his letter. “We have to establish clear priorities.”
The Ministry of Finance will bring together Secretaries of State in early September to discuss the measures to be adopted for the 2027 budget and the financial plan by 2030.
(Written by Maria Martinez, Elena Smirnova, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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