Fin Min-We May Not Use All Energy Crisis Funds: WB

In an interview with German outlet Westfalen-Blatt (in German), Finance Minister Christian Lindner states that the gov't may not utilise the full EUR200bn pool of financing that it created to respond to the energy price crisis that has hit Europe over the past months. Lindner ruled out using the funds for any other purposes.

• Lindner stated that the price relief measures cost the gov't "significantly less than feared".
• He added that as the funding was not part of the general federal budget but instead the Economic Stabilisation Fund, and "...this means that loans that are not needed for the crisis measures will lead to an overall reduction in government debt - and cannot be reallocated."
• On the rise in defence spending and its funding, Lindner states "Overcoming the neglect of the Bundeswehr over the last few years was necessary. [...]However, this will not become a permanent budgetary strategy. Because whether the debts are in the household or whether the debts are in a special fund - they are debts for which we pay interest and principal."
• Lindner leads the pro-business liberal Free Democrats (FDP), the smallest of the three parties in the governing coalition. The party is strongly in favour of the federal debt brake and is the most fiscally hawkish of the coalition partners.