Germany’s development ministry faces nearly €1.3 billion ($1.3 billion) in cuts for 2023 according to a draft budget released by the cabinet this month. The proposal would see the ministry’s budget slashed from €12.35 billion in 2022 to €11.08 billion next year.
Though most departments are facing cuts, the development ministry’s is among the most severe as Germany looks to reintroduce its debt brake. Incorporated into the constitution in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2009, the brake limits new debt to 0.35% of the country’s gross domestic product. The government suspended the rule in 2020 to mount a robust response to COVID-19 but is now reinstituting the policy.
The budget emerges at a time when, “with domestic challenges we are facing, including gas prices, development is not on the top of the government’s and particularly [Finance Minister Christian] Lindner’s agenda,” Alina Hemm, an expert at SEEK Development, which runs Donor Tracker, told Devex.