German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made serious fiscal policy mistakes when he served as vice chancellor and finance minister from 2018 to 2021, causing the country to lose billions of dollars.
This was reported by the German network Redaktionsnetzwerk RND, citing a document from the Ministry of Finance, where the article says that Schultz and his predecessor, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, pursued a policy of issuing inflation-adjusted bonds to attract loans, which was beneficial to the state with high rates Low prices , but the fulfillment of obligations under these securities against the backdrop of a sharp increase in inflation in the country has now become disproportionately costly for the state, the article notes.
The writer pointed out that payments on these bonds this year amounted to 25% of the total amount of payments for servicing the public debt, despite the fact that their share in the debt structure itself does not exceed 5%. Therefore, because of the inflation-adjusted bond clause, total interest spending in Germany will double next year to almost 30 billion euros.
In response, the Ministry of Finance said that the government underestimated the risks of a sharp rise in prices when issuing these bonds.
For his part, Dietmar Barsch, co-chairman of the Left Party faction in the Bundestag, called for a thorough investigation into the debt policies of previous governments.
Source: RIA Novosti