AFP
Germany's parliament has approved a budget for 2010 with a record level of new borrowing, as Europe's top economy seeks to bounce back from last year's recession - its most severe in six decades.
By 313 votes to 256, deputies on Friday approved the budget, which foresees 80.2 billion euros ($A118.6 billion) in new debt, twice last year's borrowing.
Germany's public deficit this year is set to be double the maximum permitted by the European Union's fiscal rules, rising to as much as six per cent of gross domestic product, from 3.3 per cent of GDP in 2009.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble reiterated his determination to bring Germany's deficit back under the three per cent ceiling by 2013.
He said that if Germany failed to adhere to the rules, they would crumble and with them the idea of a single European currency.
The budget must now be rubber stamped by the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat.
In 2009, the German economy contracted by five per cent. Berlin is hoping for growth of 1.4 per cent this year.
