Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Debt at record high
Corona tears a deep hole in the state coffers
After the first half of the year, the federal, state and local governments are looking at a huge mountain of debt of 2,251.8 billion euros. The reason for this is the cost of coping with the corona crisis. However, there are major differences between the individual federal states.
The corona measures drove the German state’s debt to a record high in the first half of the year. At the end of June, the federal, state, local and social security institutions, including all extra budgets, stood together with 2251.8 billion euros in the chalk, as the Federal Statistical Office announced. That is 78.9 billion euros or 3.6 percent more than at the end of 2020. “In the case of the federal government in particular, this is still due to measures to cope with the corona pandemic,” it was said to justify.
The per capita debt is now 27,090 euros. At the federal level alone, liabilities increased by 5.3 percent or 74.0 billion to 1,477.5 billion euros. In the case of the federal states, the growth of 0.6 percent to 639.9 billion euros was small. However, there are strong regional differences here. The highest increases were recorded in Saxony (plus 11.0 percent), Lower Saxony (plus 5.0) and North Rhine-Westphalia (plus 4.4). “The debt rises in these countries are mainly due to an expansion of the issuance of securities,” it said. The sharpest decline was recorded in Bremen with 17.1 percent. In Brandenburg the debt fell by 4.3 percent and in Hesse by 3.0 percent.
The liabilities of the municipalities and municipal associations increased by 0.8 percent to 134.4 billion euros. The highest increase was here in Bavaria with 6.6 percent, followed by Baden-Württemberg (plus 5.9) and Schleswig-Holstein (plus 3.6). There were particularly significant decreases in Saarland (minus 5.8 percent), in Brandenburg (minus 4.0) and in Saxony (minus 3.2). The social security showed a debt level of 41 million euros in the first half of the year.