(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN - Germany will plough 130 billion
euros ($146 billion) into a stimulus package to kick-start an
economy severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Chancellor
Angela Merkel said Wednesday. Under the wide-ranging measures
outlined in a 15-page document, value-added tax will be
temporarily slashed, families will receive 300 euros for each
child, while those who purchase electric cars will see a
government rebate doubled to 6,000 euros. "The size of the
package will reach 130 billion euros for 2020 to 2021, 120
billion of which will be borne by the federal government," said
Merkel. "We have an economic stimulus package, a package for the
future and in addition, we're now dealing with our
responsibility for Europe and the international dimension."
Noting that millions of employees in Germany have been put on
shorter working hours, Merkel said that "shows how fragile the
whole thing is, and why we must succeed in giving the economy a
push so that jobs can be secured." "We need to get out of this
crisis with an oomph," said Finance Minister Olaf Scholz. The
fresh stimulus comes on top of a massive 1.1 trillion euro
rescue package already agreed in March, comprising loan
guarantees, subsidies and a beefed-up shorter-hours programme to
avoid job cuts. To fund the unprecedented package, parliament
had approved new borrowing, marking a sea change in German
economic policy, upending a financial-crisis-era constitutional
rule drastically limiting budget deficits. (ANSA).
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