Germany plans to issue significantly less debt in 2024

The German government intends to borrow significantly less next year, as Europe's largest economy looks to reinstate a self-imposed debt brake that was suspended to help with the coronavirus pandemic and energy crisis.

Berlin intends to issue federal securities with a total volume of 440 billion euros ($481.45 billion) in 2024, German Finance Agency issuance plans published on Tuesday showed.

That is about 60 billion euros less than this year, in which a record level of around 500 billion euros was reached.

The money will be used to plug the expected deficit in Finance Minister Christian Lindner's budget. In addition, around 343 billion euros in amortisation payments must be made for existing debts of the federal government and its special funds.

After weeks of negotiations, Germany's government agreed on its 2024 budget this month, which will reinstate the country's debt brake that limits net borrowing to 0.35 per cent of GDP.

Of the 440 billion euros to be raised in 2024, the government plans to raise 247.5 billion euros in capital market auctions of conventional federal securities and to issue a further 165 billion euros on the money market, the agency said.

In addition, 17 billion to 19 billion euros will be raised via green federal securities, which will be used to finance environmentally and climate-friendly expenditure, it said.

The major rating agencies rate Germany's creditworthiness as AAA, which signals an extremely low default risk.