Budgét 2003 proposal wheeled out
...The federal German budget lowers the fourth time in a row the budget deficit. In 2003 st should go down by 5.6Beuro to 15.5Beuro.
As Bundeskanzler Schröder and Finance Minister Eichel indicated during the press conference, one of the reasons for this decision is commitments to euro policies. The Kanzler was clear in stressing that Germany is planning to hold to the promise of bringing the German deficit to a practical zero by 2004.
....
planned expenditures
(Beuro and 2002/2003 percent change)
jobs and social 93,4 +1,3
debt service 40,7 -1,2
transport/building 26,4 0,00
defence 24,4 +3,3
gen.finance mgt 10,3 -11,3
pensions 8,8 -2,2
education and research 8,6 +2,6
....
dj
ps: The strong words regarding the elimination of budgetary deficits will probably make Jacques Chirac's morning coffee taste bitter: France will probably approach 2,6% deficit, means pretty close to the 3% Maastricht limit. There were already rumbles in the background that France has no intentions of taking this commitment seriously. Schröder was pretty clear in stating, Germany expects them all to behave. |
