GERMANY’S LOSSES SET TO DOUBLE
Germany’s finance minister Peer Steinbrück said yesterday that the federal budget deficit would double to €90bn (£59bn) next year as tax revenues dry up and public spending rockets. He said this year’s federal deficit alone would exceed €50bn, up from a deficit of €11.9bn last year. This would break Germany’s budget deficit record of €40bn, set after the reunification with East Germany in 1991. The figures show that Germany will breach the EU’s fiscal rules by a wide margin.