GERMANY OKs FRESH $146-B TO PUMP UP ECONOMY

Germany has launched a fresh $146 billion stimulus to help the economy navigate through coronavirus, Saloni Sardana wrote for Market Insider late on June 4, 2020.

As part of the plan, value added tax (VAT) will be slashed from 19% to 16% for six months as of July 1. The usual hospitality VAT rate will also drop during this period, from 7% to 5%. Other measures include providing families with an extra 300 euros per child ($336) and doubling rebate on car-buyer bonus schemes. The rescue plan also includes a 50 billion euros ($56 billion) fund for achieving climate change innovation and digitization in the German economy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during a news conference after the coalition announced the stimulus: "The size of the package will amount to 130 billion euros for the years 2020/2021, 120 billion of which will be spent by the federal government." She added: "We have an economic stimulus package, a package for the future, and in addition, we're now dealing with our responsibility for Europe and the international dimension," she noted.

Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party, as well as coalition partners the Christian Social Union and the center-left Social Democrats agreed on the measures.