European Economy. Economic Papers. Germany's growth performance in the 1990's

Table 2.7: Cyclically Adjusted Ratios (in % of GDP)
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
00
Revenues
42.4
43.8
45.9
46.2
45.8
47.1
47.0
46.9
47.7
46.8
Expenditure
47.3
48.2
49.3
49.0
49.6
50.3
49.3
48.8
48.9
48.4
Deficit
-4.9
-4.4
-3.4
-2.8
-3.8
-3.2
-2.3
-2.9
-1.2
-1.6
Source: Commission sources (AMECO)
The deficit went strongly down at the Länder level, but rose at the level of municipalities and
decreased clearly less at the federal level (Table 2.8). This last development is all the more

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regrettable as revenues had been expanding very strongly also at the federal level, even after
deducting the revenue from the newly introduced ‘ecological tax’.
The positive trend towards a lower expenditure ratio, however, returned in the year 2000. The
change in strategy clearly visible in 2000 is constituted by the simultaneous decrease in revenue
due to the implementation of income tax reform (first step already taken in 1999); as Table 2.8
shows, revenues as percentage of GDP decreased by almost 1 percentage point in cyclically
adjusted terms in the year 2000 only.
Table 2.8: Deficit in bn. DEM/€ for Different Levels of Government
Bund
Länder
Local
Soc. Sec.
Total
1991
94.3
17.5
-3.6
-21.2
87.0
1992
48.1
21.6
7.2
3.3
80.3
1993
69.4
33.2
4.0
-5.7
100.9
1994
37.9
41.8
5.8
-3.5
82.0
1995
46.6
41.7
8.6
14.9
111.7
1996
67.3
40.6
1.6
13.1
122.5
1997
58.5
43.1
-0.3
-1.9
99.3
1998
65.1
28.3
-10.5
-5.1
77.8
1999*
20.8
9.7
-2.3
-6.0
22.2
2000*,**
25.6
10.4
-1.9
-1.9
32.2
Source: Statisches Bundesamt; Finanzstatistik
*: in bn. €; **: excluding UMTS receipts