Less than in previous years: State budget down 2.6 percent

The German state spent around 100 billion euros more than it took in last year. The state budget is thus 2.6 percent in the red. In previous years, however, the deficit was even larger.

The German state spent more money than it took in last year. Based on the total economic output, the deficit of the federal, state, municipal and social security funds in 2022 was 2.6 percent, as announced by the Federal Statistical Office.

Expenditure exceeded income by 101.6 billion euros, according to an initial estimate by the Federal Office. This means that the German state budget has slipped into the red for the third year in a row. However, the deficit is lower than in the two previous years, which were characterized by high costs as a result of the Corona crisis: the deficit was 3.7 percent in 2021 and 4.3 percent in 2020.

Experts expect increasing new debt

For this year, most experts expect new borrowing to increase, also because of the expected weak economic development and the government subsidies for gas and electricity customers worth billions. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), for example, predicts a financing deficit of 4.0 percent, which should fall to 2.2 percent in 2024.