BERLIN (Reuters) – German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is mulling a bigger than expected extra budget with additional debt of up to 50 billion euros ($56.8 billion) to finance Berlin’s bumper stimulus package in the coronavirus pandemic, a senior official with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet is planning to pass the second supplementary budget on June 17 to finance measures to help Europe’s largest economy recover from the coronavirus crisis, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It comes on top of Berlin’s debt-financed supplementary budget of 156 billion euros agreed in March. This means that the federal government’s overall net new borrowing could rise beyond 200 billion euros this year.
(Reporting by Holger Hansen and Michael Nienaber; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
