In view of the economic consequences of the Ukraine war, the Federal Minister of Economics promises faster independence from Russia.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin Germany is less and less dependent on gas supplies from Russia. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) said on Wednesday in Berlin that the dependency was still 35 percent. At the beginning of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Germany was still importing 55 percent of its natural gas from Russia.
So far, the federal government is aiming to be completely independent of Russian gas by 2024. When asked whether this might be possible in the coming year due to the progress made, Habeck replied: “Of course it’s not realistic according to German time. And yet we have to try the unrealistic in some way.”
Fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin could already impose a gas supply freeze had grown on Tuesday. Announcement came from Moscow that gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria would be stopped.
The background is the conflict over a decree by the Russian President. This stipulated that energy from Russia had to be paid for in rubles and no longer in euros or dollars as was previously the case.
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The EU agreed to continue paying in euros, but to open two accounts with the responsible Russian Gazprombank. The EU countries transfer the money in foreign currency to one account, after which the bank buys rubles for it on the Moscow stock exchange. These are then credited to the buyer’s second account, the ruble account, and transferred to the supplier Gazprom in Russia.
Habeck confirmed that Poland does not follow this procedure. In the case of Bulgaria, he was not aware of it. “This is the reality where energy is used as a weapon,” said the Vice Chancellor.
Habeck: Gas deliveries are coming steadily
Germany is sticking to the treaty with the approach agreed in the EU. So far, no restrictions have been identified: “The gas deliveries are coming steadily and in the same quantity as in the days before.” According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Wednesday, the storage levels were around 34 percent.
However, there are ambiguities in the payment to Russia at a British subsidiary of Gazprom Germania. The German subsidiary of the Russian energy giant Gazprom has been under the trusteeship of the federal government for several weeks. According to Habeck, the deliveries that are canceled due to these ambiguities only account for 0.2 percent of Russian imports. That can be easily corrected by other deliveries, said the Minister of Economic Affairs.
Habeck denied speculation that the delivery stops for Poland and Bulgaria were a reaction to his own statements on Tuesday. The Economics Minister visited the Polish capital Warsaw yesterday and held talks with the government there to make Germany independent of Russian oil imports. Included he had declared that such independence would probably be possible in the next few days.
“In the case of oil, a demolition of deliveries would now be tradable,” said Habeck on Wednesday in Berlin. The consequences would be noticeable, especially through drastically higher energy prices. However, no more economic catastrophe is to be expected.
In the case of oil, a break in deliveries would now be tradable. Robert Habeck
It’s different with gas. If there were to be a delivery stop now, regardless of whether it was triggered by Russia or the West, according to Habeck, there would be a recession this year. According to the Federal Minister, economic output would then probably be around five percent lower.
Without the embargo, the federal government still expects growth of 2.2 percent, according to the economic forecast that Habeck presented on Wednesday. In January, the government had assumed 3.6 percent.
That is the price to pay for helping Ukraine, the minister said. “We have to be willing to pay that price. We pay this price through higher inflation and slower growth,” said Habeck. The government expects the inflation rate to be 6.1 percent this year. A large part of this is attributable to more expensive energy and food, without these sectors the inflation rate is expected to be 2.5 percent. The result is that Germany is literally becoming poorer, according to Habeck.
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The first programs of the announced protective shield for the economy should start this week. The large guarantee program will be uploaded in two days. It should be possible to submit applications to the loan program of the state KfW development bank from next week.
The fact that Germany is supposed to grow at all this year has to do with the many orders that German companies are still piling up. Due to a lack of materials as a result of global supply chain problems, orders worth 100 billion euros had backed up. In addition, there would be private savings of 200 billion euros.
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