Germany could manage to reduce its budget deficit to under the EU-mandated 3 per cent of GDP as soon as 2012, the Finance Ministry in Berlin said on Thursday. The EU's Growth and Stability Pact set down the 3 per cent maximum as a condition for creating the euro, in a bid to enforce fiscal discipline across the zone, but the pact has repeatedly been broken. In a statement, the finance ministry said that higher-than expected tax intake as well as lower-than-expected outlays on social spending had led to a financing deficit of 117.5 billion euros (150.6 billion dollars) for 2010 instead of the previously projected 141 billion euros. "Only through concerted effort at all levels of the state can trust in solid public finances be secured, with which Germany can continue to act as an anchor of stability in Europe," it said. Germany's public deficit currently stands at around 5.5 per cent of GDP. The other two largest economies in the eurozone, France and Italy, have deficits of 8.4 per cent and 5.1 per cent respectively, dpa reported.
