Germany grapples with weird ways to dodge its debt brake

VISITORS TO MURKYGDPKWEU corners of the internet may encounter ads promising “one weird trick” to help them lose weight or acquire millions. To meet its climate obligations and upgrade its digital infrastructure, Germany needs to rustle up perhaps €50bn ($57bn) a year in public investment. But a “debt brake” inserted into the constitution in 2009 limits annual borrowing to 0.35% of nominal (equivalent to about €12bn). Changing the constitution looks impossible. Squaring this circle means the three parties now negotiating a coalition agreement, after an election in September, will need some tricks of their own.Several are doing the rounds. The first is to establish off-budget public companies that can tap markets for funds devoted to specific aims: insulating buildings, say, or charging stations for electric cars. Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s rail giant, operates this way. A related but distinct proposal is to beef up the f, the state development bank, to enable it to leverage private funds for green investment. In theory hundreds of billions could be raised this way, although state-aid rules are a constraint.