German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he hopes the reform package agreed by his coalition on Thursday will help lift economic growth above the 0.9% currently forecast for next year.
"I want to get out of this weakness in our economy," the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party told the public broadcaster ARD's "Brennpunkt."
"We have to increase potential growth. And I would like us to have a 1 in front [of the decimal point] again next year," he said.
For this year, the government expected growth of 0.5% in its spring projection published in April and a rise of 0.9% was expected for 2027. Merz's minimum target for next year is therefore only 0.1 percentage points above the current forecast.
In 2025, Germany posted meagre growth 0.2% after the economy had shrunk in the two years before that.
Merz highlighted the planned extensive reduction of bureaucracy and changes to data protection law. "That will have a significant impact, positively, on the economy," Merz said.
