BERLIN (AFP) - The German finance ministry unveiled a raft of measures aimed at bringing the country's public deficit back into line with eurozone rules.
Compared with previous forecasts for the deficit to brought back under the three-percent of output limit in the eurozone, German public accounts would next year show an additional shortfall of 10 billion euros (12.9 billion dollars), the ministry said in a statement.
Germany's tax revenues this year and in 2005 are expected to be 4.8 billion euros, or 0.53 percent, less than previously forecast in May, the finance ministry said.
The ministry said that revenues will be 1.4 billion euros lower this year, at 442.4 billion euros, compared with the 443.8 billion euros forecast in May.
For 2005, tax revenues were seen 3.4 billion euros lower at 450.1 billion euros, from a previous estimate of 453.5 billion.
Despite the decline, the ministry said the government "is still holding on to its 2005 goal of having a budget deficit that will again return to below" the eurozone criteria.
The German government aims to plug the hole in its finances in part by securitizing funds linked to the pensions at Deutsche Poste and Deutsche Telekom.
Part of the two semi-privatised companies employees are in effect civil servants and their retirments must therefore be paid by the state. In compensation, the two companies are supposed to pay the state 18 billion euros.
The state aims to convert these expected revenues into securities which will be sold to investors, generating 5.5 billion euros.
The government also plans on scrapping a public holiday on October 3, which will now be held on the first Sunday of that month. The economic growth created with one more working day was expected to have a positive impact of a further 500 million euros on public finances.
The government would also freeze civil servants' wages in 2005, which will have a positive impact of two billion euros on the budget.
The 12 nations using the euro are bound by the European Union's 1997 Stability and Growth pact to hold their annual public deficits to less than 3.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
But Germany, the largest eurozone economy, has repeatedly failed to meet that requirement and, according to the International Monetary Fund, could do so again next year if it does not take action.
The ministry, which was expected to hold a news conference on the new figures later Thursday, said most of the decline in revenues were due to a fall in taxes on petroleum products.
The estimates were made by a working committee comprising finance ministers from the federal states and the national government, which meets twice a year to draw up a forecast on tax receipts.
11/04/2004 - 16:08 GMT - AFP