Merkel government's first budget gets good mark from Parliament

Merkel government's first budget gets good mark from Parliament

Lawmakers in the lower house voted 409-149 in favor of the budget, which calls for spending US$330 billion a slight rise from last year's total of Ђ 259.8 billion.

Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck described it as a "transitional budget" on the road toward getting Germany's budget deficit within a European Union-imposed limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product next year.

The government hopes to get the long-sluggish economy moving before raising the value-added tax to 19 percent from 16 percent in January, a key part of efforts to tackle the budget deficit but a move that also is expected to weigh on growth, the AP reports.

This year's budget foresees net new borrowing of some US$48.2 billion well above last year's Ђ 31.2 billion.