ifo Institute: NRW Has Approved the Most Coronavirus Credits in Germany
North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is the German federal state that has approved the largest amount of coronavirus credits. The most populous state has approved credit authorizations amounting to 33 percent of its 2019 budget, equivalent to EUR 25 billion. It is followed by Bavaria with 31 percent (EUR 20 billion) and Lower Saxony with 27 percent (about EUR 9 billion). These findings are from an article by ifo researchers for ifo Schnelldienst 11/2020. “The volume of credit authorizations and the funds already drawn upon would seem to be a reaction to this extraordinary situation,” write ifo researchers Niklas Potrafke, Joachim Ragnitz, et al. „The debt brake has to be observed as soon as would be responsible, given the development of the business cycle.“
Next in line are Rhineland-Palatinate with 20 percent, Saarland with 16 percent, Bremen and Brandenburg with 15 percent each, Baden-Württemberg with 13 percent, Hesse with 12 percent, Berlin with 11 percent, Saxony with 10 percent, followed by Schleswig-Holstein (8 percent), Hamburg (6 percent) Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (4 percent), and Saxony-Anhalt (2 percent). Thuringia’s figure was put at 0, as the state parliament there had not yet made a decision at the time the article went to print.
In absolute figures, NRW and Bavaria are followed by Hesse and Baden-Württemberg with around EUR 14 billion each, Lower Saxony with 9 billion, Berlin and Saxony with 6 billion each, Rhineland-Palatinate with 3.5 billion, Hamburg with 3 billion, Saarland and Brandenburg with 2 billion each, Schleswig-Holstein and Bremen w with around 1 billion each, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with 700 million and Saxony-Anhalt with 260 million.
