Bundesbank chief Axel Weber urged Berlin on Sunday to pursue a savings programme, after Germany's highest court earlier this month rejected an appeal by the city state for federal aid to alleviate its budget woes.
The Federal Constitutional Court said Berlin's finances were strained by its debts of 60 billion euros ($76.06 billion) but that the city was not in an "extreme budgetary situation" and would very probably resolve its difficulties by itself.
Berlin should review its outgoings, Weber told the Tagesspiegel newspaper in an advance release of an interview to run in its Monday edition.
"To see the solution in terms of higher taxes is not sensible," Weber said. "For those outgoings that are retained, the financing must be guaranteed."
The city state has per capita debt of nearly 16,000 euros.