German finance ministry extends spending freeze to almost entire federal budget -letter

The German finance ministry has extended a freeze on its climate and transformation fund to almost the entire federal budget, according to a letter sent by the budget state secretary to all federal ministries and obtained by Reuters.

The German finance ministry has extended a freeze on its climate and transformation fund to almost the entire federal budget, according to a letter sent by the budget state secretary to all federal ministries and obtained by Reuters. "In order to avoid further prior burdens for future financial years, I intend to block with immediate effect all committed and still available authorisations in the individual plans 04 to 17 and 23 to 60," the letter said, with the numbers referring to individual ministries' budgets.

The finance ministry was not immediately available for comment. A German constitutional court last week ruled that the government's move to transfer unused pandemic funds towards climate funds and industry support was illegal, sending the government scrambling for alternative sources of funding.

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