BERLIN (AP) 鈥� Germany plans to spend up to 200 billion euros ($195 billion) helping consumers and businesses cope with , due to the war in Ukraine.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Thursday that the government is reactivating an economic stabilizing fund previously used during the global financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic.
The fund will be used to limit the price customers pay for gas, which is used to heat homes, generate electricity and power factories. A previously proposed surcharge on gas that was meant to help spread the rising cost of purchasing the fuel on the global market is being dropped.
鈥淥ne can say this is a double-whammy,鈥� Scholz said, speaking at a news conference by video link due to a COVID-19 infection.
Scholz said and the showed further Russian energy supplies couldn鈥檛 be expected in the near future.
鈥淲e're well prepared for this situation though,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have taken decisions that allow us to deal with this changed situation.鈥�
Finance Minister Christian Lindner insisted that the fund would not entail further regular borrowing, saying Germany is 鈥渆xpressly not following Great Britain鈥檚 path.鈥� The U.K. government recently announced despite plans to spend billions shielding homes and , resulting in a sharp fall of the pound.
The Associated Press
