BERLIN, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Germany's public debt fell by 992 million euros (1.04 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022 compared to the previous quarter, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Wednesday.
At the end of 2021, Germany's public debt stood at a record 2.32 trillion euros caused mainly by the "actions taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic," according to Destatis.
The decline in Q1 was in particular due to the decrease in the debt of extra budgets. Due to the special circumstances presented by the pandemic, the country's so-called "debt brake", which requires budgets to be balanced without revenues from borrowing, remains temporarily suspended.
Last month, the German Bundestag (lower house of Parliament) adopted the country's annual budget for 2022, allowing total spending of 496 billion euros and around 140 billion euros in new debt.
This includes a supplementary budget of around 40 billion euros submitted at the end of April for "measures directly related to the consequences" of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz already announced in February the creation of a special defense fund worth 100 billion euros, stressing that the country would strive to reach an annual defense spending of 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Europe's largest economy seeks to return to a balanced budget in 2023. For the first time since 2020, the debt brake is to apply again as a draft budget by the Finance Ministry only provides for 17.2 billion euros in debt next year. (1 euro = 1.05 U.S. dollar) ■