Germany must increase investment to improve competitiveness: ministerOctober 20, 2014 - 09:31 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Germany must increase its investment to improve competitiveness - but not at the expense of higher debt, finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said, according to BBC News. His comments, in a newspaper interview on Sunday, Oct 19, follow a raft of economic evidence that shows Europe's most important economy is slowing down. Last week financial markets had a torrid time, partly rattled by the sight of a weakening German economy. Schaeuble is under pressure to boost infrastructure spending. The list of potential projects includes roads, railways, and energy and broadband networks. In the interview with the Welt am Sonntag, Schaeuble said criticism that the government was not spending enough was justified, but that it was trying to alter that. "We must invest more and improve our competitiveness. We must get to work on this - quickly and in a concrete way," he said. Germany, Europe's largest economy, is now expected to grow by just 1.2% this year, rather than 1.8%, with growth of 1.3% in 2015, down from a previous estimate of 2%. Schaeuble said that any improvement in spending would not be made at the expense of a balanced budget. He said he still expects to balance the books next year, which would be the first time the country had kept debt in line with income since 1969. The German economy contracted by 0.2% between April and June this year, while figures released last week showed that exports fell by 5.8% in August, the largest monthly drop in five years. These followed weak industrial output figures and recent surveys showing a fall in business confidence. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Scholz hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed this year German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed this year. Ucom equips four bus stops in Ijevan with free Wi-Fi Ucom now provides free Wi-Fi coverage in smart bus stops in four communities of Ijevan. Armenians stage more campaigns against territorial concessions to Azerbaijan Protesters blocked more roads across Armenia on Friday, April 26 in continuing attempts to scuttle territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. |