More Germans risk being trapped in a debt spiral triggered by the widening gap between their wages and the soaring cost of living, Consumer Protection Minister Steffi Lemke said on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th July, 2023) More Germans risk being trapped in a debt spiral triggered by the widening gap between their wages and the soaring cost of living, Consumer Protection Minister Steffi Lemke said on Tuesday.
"Higher prices are creating serious problems for many people," Lemke told the Handelsblatt business daily.
The Greens minister said many low-income households were already "considerably indebted" and relying on consulting centers for guidance on how to avoid falling into "a debt spiral."
Official statistics published in late June showed that poorer German households sat on a debt pile that exceeded their median monthly income by 26 times. It estimated the debt burden at 30,940 euros ($34,700), versus the net income of 1,189 euros.
Marcel Fratzscher, president of the German Institute for Economic Research, told the newspaper that Germany was standing on the precipice of a "highly unsocial crisis."
The European Central Bank's former top international policy analyst predicted a wave of private bankruptcies as long as soaring energy, food and rent prices continued to eat into household incomes.
