Germany to borrow more money next year than ever before

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BERLIN, Dec. 17 (Chinese media) -- The German government

will have "the highest net and gross new borrowing in the history of the Federal

Republic" next year, the Christian Democratic Union's budget spokesman said on

Wednesday.

In a Bloomberg Television interview in Berlin,

Steffen Kampeter said that German government's net new borrowing may reach some

40 billion to 50 billion euros (52 billion to 65 billion U.S. dollars), while

the gross borrowing will be close to 340 billion euros if the situation goes

really bad.

Kampeter's assessment is bad news for his party

leader, Chancellor Angela Merkel, who made deficit reduction and a return to a

balanced budget a priority, according to the report of Bloomberg.

Merkel's popularity has already slumped amid

international and domestic criticism over her unwillingness to spend more to

mitigate what may become the worst recession since World War II in2009, an

election year.

Merkel on Tuesday acknowledged for the first time

that the current government stimulus measures "are not enough," and said that

more steps will be taken in January. She indicated "a few billion" more would be

spent on infrastructure development.

The German economy is experiencing a tough winter,

according to the monthly bulletin published by the Bundesbank, or the German

central bank, on Monday. The country's GDP may shrink by at least 3 percent next

year, a post-World War II record, according to a forecast by German Economy

Ministry.