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German Federal Finance Minister Jorg Kukies at the meeting of the European Union’s Ministers of Economy and Finance in the framework of the Eurogroup on December 9, 2024, at the European Council in Brussels, Belgium.
Martin Bertrand/Hans Lucas | Afp | Getty Images
It is crucial that Germany embark on a period of economic growth, the country’s Finance Minister Jörg Kukies told CNBC on Thursday, adding that structural weaknesses must be addressed.
“We just revised the IMF’s growth forecast again,” Kukies told CNBC’s Karen Tso and Steve Sedgwick at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“The structural weaknesses of our economy must be completely resolved,” he added. “It is really important to embark on a path of economic growth.”
Kukies also addressed the debate The so-called German debt brakeThe fiscal rule contained in the German constitution. The debt brake limits how much debt the government can borrow, and the size of the federal government’s structural budget deficit must not exceed 0.35% of the country’s annual gross domestic product.
The finance minister said some “targeted reforms” to the rule are necessary because “we have huge infrastructure spending on railways, roads, bridges, education, 5G, 6G infrastructure and so on”.
“But the majority of investment in our country (…) must come from the private sector”, he added.
Kukies became Germany’s finance minister in November, replacing Christian Lindner after he was ousted by Chancellor Olaf Scholz after months of infighting and wrangling over the economy and budget.
Lindner’s dismissal effectively ended Germany’s former governing coalition, which consisted of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party, Lindner’s Free Democratic Party and the Green Party. This brought forward the German national elections to February 23rd.
“The election is about the economy,” Kukies added.
This is the latest news and will be updated soon.
