Akhir 11, 1432 H/March 16, 2011, SPA -- Germany will again reduce its budget deficit in 2012, bringing it further below the eurozone mandated ceiling of 3 percent of GDP, AP quoted finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble as saying Wednesday. The 2012 draft budget of Europe's biggest economy foresees a deficit of ¤31.5 billion ($44 billion). Revenues are expected to be ¤272.3 billion, while spending will be roughly unchanged at ¤303.8 billion, the minister said. Schaeuble noted that means the deficit will be well below 3 percent of GDP, though he would not provide an exact figure. The deficit was 3.3 percent in 2010, but is expected to fall below the 3 percent ceiling already this year. Parliament is to vote on the 2012 budget later this year. The draft budget assumes Germany's recovery will continue, with the economy forecast to grow at 2.3 percent this year and 1.8 percent next year. Schaeuble said the government's planning was on the «safe side» even despite the economic uncertainty resulting from the devastating earthquake in Japan. The situation in Japan is likely to be discussed on the sidelines of a G-20 meeting later this month, he added. Chancellor Angela Merkel's government pledged last year to save ¤80 billion through 2014 by cutting spending and raising new taxes, but the country has also become the eurozone's reluctant paymaster during the sovereign debt crisis. Several factors could still trouble the government's financial planning. Utility companies are expected to pay about ¤2.3 billion in a new tax on nuclear fuel in 2012, but the government decided this week in the wake of the events unfolding in Japan to take 7 of the country's 17 reactors off the grid for at least three months to perform more safety checks. Schaeuble said it was too early to asses the financial consequences of the decision. The budget also foresees about ¤2 billion coming from a new proposed tax on financial transactions. Schaeuble said he is pushing for such legislation to be passed within the European Union or at least the eurozone. The minister said that he does not expect more heavily indebted eurozone countries to follow the path of Greece and Ireland toward a bailout, adding he therefore did not expect a related risk for Germany's budget. However, the European Stability Mechanism for over-indebted countries _ agreed to by the 17 eurozone countries _ will require its member nations to pay a portion of the pledged bailout money into a fund from 2013 instead of just providing guarantees, as under the current EFSF rescue fund.
