German Finance Minister hails coronavirus light at end of tunnel
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German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that data showed the economy was doing better than many had expected weeks or months ago.
“We have carefully managed our money over years and now we have to use that money to protect jobs and companies but also to protect citizens’ health,” he said on ARD television. “We need light at the end of the tunnel, and now it is visible.”
Scholz declined to say if a temporary cut to value-added tax, designed to stimulate consumption, would be extended beyond the end of the year, saying only that it had been time-limited by design and that other, previously announced cuts to income-related taxes would kick in next year.
Meanwhile, Germany’s health minister on Thursday said he expects restrictions imposed to curb the pandemic to continue through winter, adding that he does not see life normalising in December or January even if the number of new infections would fall.
“I don’t see events with more than 10 or 15 people happening this winter,” Jens Spahn told RBB broadcaster.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 21,866 to 727,553, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday.
The reported death toll rose by 215 to 11,982, the tally showed.
