Bloomberg reports that Germany aims to lift new borrowing to 240.2 billion euros this year, taking on just over 60 billion euros more debt than initially planned to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus crisis.

Heavy government spending is set to continue as the country grapples with a fresh wave of the pandemic. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz will propose suspending constitutional borrowing limits for a third straight year when he presents a draft 2022 spending plan alongside his supplementary 2021 budget on Wednesday.

Scholz is targeting new borrowing of 81.5 billion euros in 2022, the officials said. That would take the total for this year and next to more than 320 billion euros.

According to the two officials, German debt will swell to about 75% of GDP this year. The mid-term financing plan through 2025 foresees a restoration of the debt brake from 2023, they added.