Overview
- The Bundesrechnungshof delivered a report to the Bundestag budget committee on September 3 that says the current fiscal plans put the federal budget "on the path to a debt trap."
- The auditors find roughly 32 percent of expected federal spending would be financed with new borrowing, meaning about one in three euros would come from credit.
- If the government's finance plan is carried out, the report projects federal debt could roughly double to about €3 trillion within a decade and the share of budget spent on interest could rise from 5.8 percent now to about 12.7 percent by 2030.
- The office blames unlimited exemptions and newly created special funds for weakening the constitutional debt rule and criticizes repeated delays to repaying emergency loans as incentives to avoid real consolidation.
- The government says it closed a €34 billion funding gap for 2027 and defends investment in defense and infrastructure, but Bundestag budget talks this month will decide whether to cut, restructure or keep the current borrowing path.