Germany aims for balanced budget til 2020 despite refugee costs: document

[BERLIN] The German finance ministry wants to stick to its goal of achieving a balanced budget every year until 2020 despite additional spending on refugees, an internal document seen by Reuters showed on Thursday.

The ministry estimates additional federal spending of 10.7 billion euros in 2017, mostly to cover costs related the influx of migrants.

Half of the 12-billion-euro surplus posted in 2015 will go solely to finance those costs in 2017. An additional 2.7 billion euros will come from other savings and a forecast rise in tax revenues, leaving a 2-billion-euro hole in the budget.

The document did not say how that hole would be filled to ensure a balanced budget.

The other half of the 2015 surplus will be spent on refugees this year.

REUTERS