May 31 (Reuters) – Germany’s special fund for infrastructure has so far failed to reach its targets on how much to disburse, a 383-page finance ministry report due to be published this week shows, newspaper Handelsblatt said on Sunday.
• The €500 billion ($583 billion) fund was created last year as a way to revive the German economy but it has taken time to take effect. Economists and business groups have warned the fund alone cannot deliver sustainable growth.
• The report is due to be sent to the lower house of parliament’s budget committee and then made public early this week.
• A finance ministry spokesperson declined to comment.
• Last year, the fund was supposed to disburse €37.4 billion but instead spent only 24 billion euros, Handelsblatt reported. Of 109 planned “milestones” for 2026, it had achieved only 26 by the end of May, it added.
• The ministry has introduced a “progress and effectiveness indicator” to assess the extent to which investment projects are meeting their targets, the newspaper said, adding that the average across the fund is 54%.
• The highest figure by sector was 90% each for investments in hospitals and sports facilities, followed by 66% for housing construction, 57% for digitization, 52% for transportation and 45% for energy infrastructure, it said. In education and childcare infrastructure, there was no measurable progress.
• A separate finance ministry document seen by Reuters said the fund’s investments were boosting German gross domestic product by half a percentage point, a figure that Handelsblatt also cited from the report. The document also said the pace of implementation needs to be increased.
($1 = 0.8577 euro)
(Reporting by Joern Poltz in MunichWriting by Francois MurphyEditing by Matthew Lewis)
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