Germany’s debt interest payments could soar next year, finance minister warns – newspaper

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner speaks during a session of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, on May 31, 2022. REUTERS / Hannibal Hanschke

BERLIN, June 18 (Reuters) – Finance Minister Christian Lindner has warned that interest rates on German public debt could reach € 30 billion next year due to rising interest rates and rising interest rates. ‘increased debt levels, and added that it would withstand calls to increase spending.

Lindner said he wanted to end next year’s three years of government generosity that had characterized attempts to target the economy through the coronavirus crisis and re-apply the brake on Germany’s constitutional debt. next year.

“We are experiencing dangerous inflation that needs to be curbed,” he told Welt am Sonntag in an interview. “Preparing to take entrepreneurial risks could be reduced. We can’t let this turn into an economic crisis.”

Germany spent 4 billion euros in interest last year, said Lindner, of the pro-business Free Democratic Party, adding that it would resist calls from its coalition partners to increase spending.

“We can no longer afford misdirected subsidies,” he said. He listed subsidies for the purchase of electric and hybrid cars that were available even to very tall people as examples of subsidies that should be ruled out.

Report by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Sandra Maler

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