Germany reduces public debt by 53 bln euros in Q4 2018

BERLIN, March 26 (Xinhua) -- At the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, Germany's public debt was 53 billion euros (60 billion U.S. dollars) less than in the same period in 2017, representing a decrease of 2.7 percent, according to preliminary figures published by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) here on Tuesday.

The whole German public sector - i.e. the government, the country's federal states and municipalities as well as the social security funds - was indebted to banks and private companies to the tune of 1,914.3 billion euros.

The debt reduction effort affected all areas financed from Germany's public budget, according to Destatis. The national government's debt accounted for more than half of the total reduction. It decreased by 29.1 billion euros compared to the end of 2017.

In an interview granted to public broadcaster ARD last week, Germany's Finance Minister Olaf Scholz pledged that "we won't take on new debt" and that his ministry will aim for "social fairness in our country."

On federal state level, Germany's debt stood at 570.7 billion euros at the end of 2018. All German states except for Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Bremen were able to reduce their debts in the course of the year.

According to Destatis, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein saw their debt increase by more than 5 percent, which was mainly attributable to the sale of HSH Nordbank to a private investment consortium at the end of 2018.