German government agrees on 2024 budget - government sources

The ruling forced Scholz's government to suspend a constitutionally enshrined "debt brake" for the 2023 budget and to re-think its 2024 plans as Finance Minister Christian Lindner estimated a funding gap of around 17 billion euros in the 2024 budget of around 450 billion. During the negotiations in recent weeks, Lindner of the fiscally conservative Free Democrats (FDP) insisted on imposing the debt brake for 2024, which restricts Germany's public deficit to 0.35% of gross domestic product.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-way alliance has agreed on a budget for 2024, following weeks of negotiations after a court ruling last month threw its finances into disarray, three government sources told Reuters on Wednesday. The government will present its plans later on Wednesday, the sources said. No details were available yet.

Germany's constitutional court ruled on Nov. 15 the coalition government's decision to re-allocate 60 billion euros ($64.69 billion) of unused debt from the pandemic era to its climate and transformation fund was unconstitutional. The ruling forced Scholz's government to suspend a constitutionally enshrined "debt brake" for the 2023 budget and to re-think its 2024 plans as Finance Minister Christian Lindner estimated a funding gap of around 17 billion euros in the 2024 budget of around 450 billion.

During the negotiations in recent weeks, Lindner of the fiscally conservative Free Democrats (FDP) insisted on imposing the debt brake for 2024, which restricts Germany's public deficit to 0.35% of gross domestic product. But Scholz and Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens wanted the debt brake suspended again in 2024, for the fifth year in a row. ($1 = 0.9276 euros)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)