Germany recorded record budget surplus of €36.6 billion last year, lower than estimated but still at record levels. The extra cash amounted is about 1.1 percent of Germany's €3.26-trillion Gross Domestic Product. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and prospective junior partners the Social Democratic Party have planned to loosen the purse strings over the coming four years - as long as SPD members approve their coalition deal in an internal referendum.
The world bank estimates that Germany spends just 1.6% of its GDP on defense spending, allowing it to spend far more on "butter" than worry about spending for guns. Germany relies on the nuclear umbrella of the United States and NATO, and can therefore spend far less for their military, and more on social welfare spending.
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