Economic stimulus package II

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Use of the economic stimulus package in Berlin-Pankow .

The economic stimulus package (full name: Pact for Employment and Stability in Germany to secure jobs, strengthen the forces of growth and modernization of the country ) was a stimulus package in Germany, which in January 2009 by the Federal Government , it was decided to reduce the impact of the international financial crisis on to moderate the real economy and to overcome the severe recession in the winter half of 2008/09. It followed on from the previous stimulus package from November 2008 (hereinafter referred to as stimulus package I ), but had a larger fiscal scope. Most of the economic policy measures expired at the end of 2010; projects previously started under the Future Investment Act were funded until the end of 2011.

prehistory

During the discussion about the package of measures "Securing jobs by boosting growth" (so-called first economic stimulus package) in November 2008, the first discussions within the grand coalition about a further economic stimulus program were heard. The CSU chairman and Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer called for further tax cuts.

However, Federal Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück and the Social Democratic Party of Germany rejected tax cuts and instead called for a reduction in social security contributions , in particular a reduction in contributions to the health fund .

SPD positions

The SPD presidium decided on its pact for growth and stability . This provided for a Germany fund for investments in infrastructure, education and future technologies. The SPD wants to "secure jobs, strengthen people, open up future markets and promote social cohesion in society".

The own contribution of 0.9 percent to the contribution to the statutory health insurance (GKV) should be financed from tax revenues; the federal government would have had to spend around 10 billion euros annually on this. The SPD model provided for a financial volume of around 40 billion euros.

CDU positions

The CDU / CSU parliamentary group reached an agreement on a common list on January 4, 2009 after six hours of negotiations in the Federal Chancellery . In particular, this provided for a tax cut to mitigate the cold progression by increasing the basic tax allowance from currently 7,664 euros to 7,834 euros in the future (from January 1, 2009) and from January 1, 2010 to 8,004 euros in the income tax rate .

Agreement and resolutions

On January 12, 2009, the coalition committee in the Chancellery reached the following resolutions:

Pact for employment and stability in Germany to secure jobs, strengthen growth forces and modernize the country
  • Decision 1: Public sector investments in the future.
By the end of 2010, around 10 billion euros were earmarked for investments by the municipalities and states and 4 billion for federal investments. 75% of the funding comes from the federal government, 25% from the federal states. The focus of investment is on the education sector, especially kindergartens, schools, universities and infrastructure, especially transport, hospitals, urban development and information technology. Measures to reduce CO 2 emissions and increase energy efficiency will be supported in both investment priorities.
Shortening of the award deadlines by the end of 2010 in the procurement regulations for services ( VOL ) and the procurement and contract regulations for construction services ( VOB ):
The duration of an EU procurement procedure has been reduced from 87 to 30 days.
Easier award of construction works through restricted tenders :
Introduction of thresholds for restricted tenders and direct awards in Germany:
for construction work:
- Restricted invitation to tender: € 1 million
- Direct award: € 100,000
for services and deliveries:
- Direct award and restricted invitation to tender: € 100,000
Below these thresholds, the federal public procurement offices were able to carry out restricted tenders or direct awards without evidence of an exception. The federal states and municipalities were asked to facilitate their procurement procedures by raising the threshold values. The new thresholds were provisionally valid until December 31, 2010.
  • Decision 3: Loan and Guarantee Program.
Additional special program of KfW Bankengruppe for loans to large companies, improvement of guarantee instruments to provide credit to the economy through measures amounting to 100 billion euros. Examination of corporate debt financing through guarantee instruments, especially with credit insurers, leasing companies and factoring companies. This decision was later detailed in the German Economic Fund, which ended in 2011 .
  • Resolution 4: Expansion of federal export financing
The expansion of the possibilities for federal export financing ( Hermes guarantee ) should be examined.
  • Decision 5: Federal innovation funding
Increase in funding for the Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM) for research and development projects and the like. a. with the accompanying opening of the program to companies with up to 1,000 employees (previously only SMEs with up to 250 employees were eligible to apply). A legal regulation or the approval of the federal states was not required for this decision.
  • Decision 6: Broadband strategy of the federal government
Massive expansion of broadband networks and support in setting up wired and radio-supported high-performance networks. Particularly unserved areas in rural areas should be covered by the end of 2010. By 2014 at the latest, it should be available for 75 percent of households and by 2018 for all households in Germany connections with transmission rates of at least 50 megabits per second. The Federal Government presented the implementation of these objectives with a broadband strategy in February 2009.
  • Decision 7: Strengthening the demand for cars
Vehicle owners can apply for an environmental bonus if an end-of-life vehicle that is at least nine years old and has been registered with the owner for at least 1 year is scrapped and at the same time an environmentally friendly new or annual vehicle from the Euro 4 emissions standard is bought and registered. The environmental bonus (colloquially known as the scrapping bonus ) was 2,500 euros and was granted for registrations up to December 31, 2009. For this purpose, a total volume of 5 billion euros was made available by the federal government, which was exhausted on September 2, 2009.
  • Resolution 8: New regulation of vehicle tax
In addition to the package of measures "Securing employment through strengthening growth" , the current vehicle tax was to be converted to an emissions-related vehicle tax by July 1, 2009 , which was also done. The income from this is then exclusively due to the federal government - in return, the federal states, which were previously entitled to the tax, receive an annual fixed amount from the federal government as compensation.
  • Decision 9: Promotion of application-oriented research in the field of electromobility
By the end of 2010, an additional 500 million euros should be available through funding programs and KfW loans. For example, for hybrid drives , fuel cell or storage technologies.
  • Decision 10: job security
Reimbursement of the employer's contribution to social security in the event of short-time work of the employee in the amount of 50 percent by the Federal Employment Agency . By the end of 2010, 1.2 billion euros should be available in the federal budget for activation and qualification measures of the basic security providers for jobseekers and 770 million euros for the Federal Employment Agency. According to the federal government, companies can use the crisis to qualify and train their employees instead of dismissing them. In particular, employees over 25 years of age who do not have a professional qualification and young people who have been looking for an apprenticeship position for a long time should be encouraged. The employment agencies and job centers should get 5000 jobs for placement, support and granting of benefits. The statutory contribution rate for unemployment insurance was reduced to 2.8 percent from January 1, 2009 and was valid until December 31, 2010.
From 2009 was marginal tax rate of 15 reduced to 14 percent and the basic allowance increased by 170 euros to 7,834 euros; from 2010 there was a further increase to 8,004 euros. Reduced tax income as a result: 5.9 billion euros. Source: BT-Drs.16 / 11740.
  • Resolution 12: Contributions to statutory health insurance
With effect from July 1, 2009, the federal government will pay a further subsidy of EUR 3 billion for 2009 and around EUR 6 billion for 2010 to the health fund of the statutory health insurance (GKV). The equally financed contribution rates to the statutory health insurance were reduced accordingly by 0.6 percentage points.
  • Decision 13: Family and child-related benefits
A one-off payment (child bonus) of 100 euros per child was paid out to all child benefit recipients in April 2009 via the family benefits office. It is not offset against the requirement rates of the recipients of social benefits. Single parents with a gross monthly income of EUR 1,800 or more had to repay the child bonus with their tax return, as it is offset against the child allowance, as did married couples with gross annual earnings of over EUR 70,000.

The standard rates for children between the ages of 6 and 13 according to SGB II ("Hartz IV") and SGB XII (social assistance) will be increased on July 1, 2009 from 60% to 70% of the basic standard rate.

  • Decision 14: Decision to introduce a new debt limitation rule
As part of the Federalism Reform II , an agreement was reached between the federal government and the states to reorganize the limitation of net borrowing (“ debt brake ”), which was anchored in the Basic Law from August 2009. In order to cover a budget deficit, this was previously only limited by the Basic Law to the amount of state expenditure on investments.

Credit and surety program for business

Decision 3 provided for a loan and guarantee program for the economy, which had meanwhile been implemented in the German Economic Fund, which expired in 2011 . Due to the financial crisis from 2007 onwards , medium-sized and large companies had increasing financing problems , which have now subsided.

For this purpose, the guarantee volume of 15 billion euros from the economic stimulus package I of November 5, 2008 was increased by 100 billion euros from the economic stimulus package II - resolution 3. New guarantee instruments were introduced for leasing and factoring companies.

A flexibilization of the conditions of the small and medium-sized KfW special program was planned. A KfW special loan program worth 25 billion euros should also be made available to large companies (sales over 500 million euros).

The loan and guarantee program was approved by the EU Commission on February 19, 2009. The Federal Ministry of Economics was in charge .

Financial volume

The International Monetary Fund put the impetus set by the Federal Government for 2008 at 4 billion euros or 0.1% of gross domestic product , for 2009 at 40 billion euros (1.6%) and for 2010 at 24 billion euros (0 , 9%). He himself recommended a volume of 1½% to 2% of gross domestic product for 2009. The economic stimulus package itself was financed with additional borrowing of EUR 36.8 billion.

Legislative process

In a second round of negotiations on January 12, 2009, the grand coalition agreed on the second economic stimulus package. On January 13th it was discussed in the parliamentary groups and decided on January 14th in the federal cabinet . The stimulus package contained four laws:

  • Law amending the Basic Law (Art. 106, 106b, 107, 108),
  • Law on the new regulation of vehicle tax and changes to other laws,
  • Law to secure employment and stability in Germany and the
  • Law on the establishment of a supplement to the federal budget for the budget year 2009 (supplementary budget law 2009)

The discussion in the budget committee of the Bundestag took place on February 9th and the adoption by the Bundestag on February 13th. On February 20, 2009, the Federal Council approved the economic stimulus package II ; it came into force on March 6, 2009.

exam

On October 6, 2009, several federal states announced that they would sue the Federal Constitutional Court against the audit authority granted to the Federal Audit Office. The finance ministers deny the federal government the right to review the use of funds from the economic stimulus program in the federal states and municipalities by the Federal Audit Office. This should be done by the state parliaments and state audit offices.

Effects and evaluation

Wirtschaftsdienst magazine used a simulation based on the RWI economic model to calculate the effects of economic stimulus package II. In February 2009 it was assumed that the growth rate of the gross domestic product would increase by 0.5% for 2009 and 0.3% for 2010. Compared to the originally planned implementation, however, two decisive points have changed: Firstly, 80% of the funds from the scrappage bonus were used up in the course of 2009 and the total volume increased from 1.5 to 5 billion euros. Second, the rules on actions that should be encouraged have been relaxed. There was another problem with the implementation. The investment program got off to a slow start and by the end of 2009 only 13% of the available amount had been called up. Originally, however, 50% of the funds should have been spent by the end of 2009. With an updated simulation, Wirtschaftsdienst 2011 shows stronger effects of the program at the beginning. In 2009, the stimulus package increased real GDP growth by 0.7%. In 2010, however, the program dampened the increase in GDP by 0.2%.

Ultimately, the implementation of the economic stimulus package started too slowly, making it difficult to stabilize the economy in the long term. Rather, it only prevented a collapse in economic output after the expiry of short-term measures such as the scrapping bonus.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b BMWi: Schlaglichter der Wirtschaftsppolitik 2/2009 ( Memento from January 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), p. 8
  2. ↑ Economic Policy - "Germany Needs an Investment Turbo" ( Memento from December 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Investing against the crisis ( Memento from January 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Reduce social security contributions ( Memento from December 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Determined for Employment ( Memento of December 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Pact for Growth and Stability. SPD city association Sendenhorst, January 5, 2009, accessed on March 18, 2018 .
  7. ↑ SPD calls for a 40 billion stimulus program. Image , April 21, 2010, accessed March 18, 2018 .
  8. ↑ coalition talks: SPD prescht pre-stimulus plan 40 billion with. Spiegel Online , January 4, 2009, accessed March 18, 2018 .
  9. ↑ 50 billion euros for the second economic stimulus package ( memento of March 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ^ Economic stimulus package II: Union agreed ( Memento from January 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Single parents - child bonus is only worth up to 1800 euros
  12. ↑ Adjustment of the standard rates in social assistance and cash amounts from July 1, 2009, assistance for the blind according to Section 72 (2) SGB XII, income limit according to Section 85 SGB XII, standard benefits of basic security for jobseekers from July 1, 2009, deductions for household energy
  13. ^ Report of the BMWi on the implementation of measure 3 ( Memento from March 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ^ Report of the BMWi on the implementation of measure 3 ( Memento from March 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ^ Report of the BMWi on the implementation of measure 3 ( Memento from March 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ European law hurdles for planned flexibilizations and extensions of the KfW special program cleared ( Memento of February 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ^ Pdf-File Germany: 2008 Article IV Consultation — Staff Report; Staff supplement; Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Germany, January 2009 . P. 25.
  18. ↑ Countries clear the way: Second economic stimulus package passed. In: FAZ . February 20, 2009, accessed March 17, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Act amending the Basic Law (Articles 106, 106b, 107, 108) ( Memento of January 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) of March 19, 2009, Federal Law Gazette I, p. 606
  20. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Law on the new regulation of motor vehicle tax and amendments to other laws - Motor Vehicle Tax Amendment Act - KraftStÄndG of 29 May 2009, Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1170@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bundesfinanzministerium.de
  21. ↑ Law for Securing Employment and Stability in Germany of March 2, 2009, Federal Law Gazette I, p. 416
  22. ↑ Law on the establishment of a supplement to the federal budget for the budget year 2009 (supplementary budget law 2009) of February 27, 2009, Federal Law Gazette I, p. 406
  23. ↑ Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology - Laws ( Memento from April 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  24. ↑ Laender deny the federal government's ability to review economic stimulus programs
  25. ↑ György Barabas, Roland Döhrn, Heinz Gebhardt: What did the economic stimulus package II bring? In: Wirtschaftsdienst 2011, issue 7, pp. 496–498. July 2011, accessed March 17, 2018 .

Web links