Saturday 19th December 2020
Lots of money left for lockdown
Scholz promises help "as long as necessary"
Olaf Scholz doubts that the lockdown will be lifted on January 10th. The German economy will face further billions in costs. For the German state to come for a long time, says the Federal Minister of Finance. There is still "a lot of money" left.
Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has rejected fears that the corona aid will end. "Financially we can hold out the lockdown for a long time because we have a robust economy with very efficient and internationally competitive companies," said the SPD candidate for chancellor in the newspapers of the Funke media group. The new bridging aids are designed for a longer period of time. "My message: the state will help as long as it is necessary."
According to Scholz, the federal government calculates lockdown costs of around eleven billion euros per month. "For economic aid alone, we have 39.5 billion euros available next year. In addition, we have unused funds from this year. And another 35 billion euros for purposes that we have yet to define." This is "a lot of money," said the minister.
Scholz also rejected a forecast of how long the lockdown will last. "Nobody who is clever should be carried away into making statements about what will be in February or March." With a view to the tough lockdown currently in place until January 10th, the SPD politician added: "Everyone knows that January 10th will only be a stopover."
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