BRUSSELS: European Union’s economic leaders called on Monday for eurozone countries with high growth to spend more, an attempt to persuade Germany to step up its public spending and strengthen the bloc’s economy.

Germany is expected to expand by 1.8 per cent this year, according to upwardly revised estimates from the International Monetary Fund, while its trade surplus keeps increasing.

The solid expansion of the German economy has not, however, been matched by a similar growth in public expenditure, as the country recorded a 0.8pc fiscal surplus last year.

“It would help the economy of the eurozone as a whole if the countries that already have big growth would allow for an expansion of the demand side, in other words increase wages or lower taxes,” the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters before a regular meeting in Brussels.

The bloc’s finance ministers will discuss at their monthly meeting the fiscal stance of the eurozone for next year as part of talks aimed at influencing budgetary decisions of the 19 member states.

An attempt by the European Commission to aim for a slightly expansionary fiscal policy for the eurozone as a whole this year was met by German opposition and was eventually dropped.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2017