Germany Budget Surplus to Reach Billions in 2019: Handelsblatt

(Bloomberg) -- Explore what’s moving the global economy in the new season of the Stephanomics podcast. Subscribe via Pocket Cast or iTunes.

Germany will have a budget surplus this year amounting to billions of euros, Handelsblatt reported, citing government sources.

Greater-than-expected tax revenue will result in the figure reaching the “high-single digits,” the paper said.

Germany’s finance ministry is preparing a tax revenue estimate for next week, and calculations show the number has increased by 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) compared to the last assessment in May, Handelsblatt reported.

The government also has to pay about 5 billion euros less than planned to serve its current debt. On top, “many billions” earmarked for investments for states and municipalities will not be called, the newspaper wrote, while some of the surplus will be reserved to help refugees.

With countries from China to the U.K. announcing fiscal stimulus plans, Germany is facing pressure to loosen the purse strings. So far, Germany hasn’t committed to such a program, instead discussing measures including higher investments, subsidies for electric cars or corporate tax write-offs.

To contact the reporter on this story: Richard Weiss in Frankfurt at rweiss5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Schaefer at dschaefer36@bloomberg.net, Sara Marley, Jon Menon

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.