Schaeuble plan aims to end rising federal debt

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble presented a five-year fiscal plan that would end almost half a century of rising federal debt by forgoing net new borrowing starting in 2015.

Net new borrowing will drop to €6.5bn this year, the lowest in 40 years. From 2015, the budget will avoid net credit for the first time since 1969, he said. “This isn’t trickery but the result of consolidating the budget every year since 2010.”

Government spending can rise when outlays on debt management decline, he said.