German new borrowing less than expected

German federal net new borrowing in 2009 totalled some 36 billion euros ($51.5 billion), a few billion less than the Finance Ministry had previously said, a magazine reported. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said last month new borrowing by the federal government could be around 10 billion euros lower than the 49.1 billion euros previously earmarked.
Yet the fact the recession proved less severe in 2009 than originally feared meant it would be as low as 36 billion, weekly Der Spiegel said on Saturday, citing ministry calculations.