German infrastructure fund misses its spending targets, Handelsblatt says

May 31 (Reuters) - Germany's special ‌fund for ​infrastructure has ​so far failed to reach its targets on how much to disburse, a 383-page finance ministry report due ‌to be published this week shows, newspaper Handelsblatt said ⁠on Sunday.

• The €500 billion ($583 billion) fund was created last year as a way to ‌revive the German economy ‌but it has taken time to take effect. Economists and business groups have warned the fund alone cannot deliver sustainable growth.

• ​The report is due to be sent to the lower house of parliament's budget committee and then made public early this ⁠week.

• A finance ministry spokesperson declined to comment.

• Last year, the fund was supposed to ​disburse €37.4 billion but instead spent only 24 billion euros, Handelsblatt reported. Of 109 planned "milestones" for 2026, it had ​achieved only 26 by the end ‌of May, it added.

• The ministry has introduced a "progress and effectiveness indicator" to assess the extent to ⁠which investment projects are meeting their targets, the newspaper said, adding that the average across the fund is 54%.

• The highest figure by sector was ⁠90% each for investments in hospitals and sports facilities, followed by 66% for ​housing construction, 57% for digitization, 52% for transportation and 45% for energy infrastructure, it said. In education and childcare infrastructure, there was no measurable progress.

• ‌A separate finance ministry document seen by Reuters said the fund's investments were boosting German gross domestic ‌product by half a percentage point, a figure that Handelsblatt also cited ⁠from the report. The ‌document also said the ​pace of implementation needs to be increased.

($1 = 0.8577 euro)

(Reporting by Joern Poltz in MunichWriting by Francois MurphyEditing by ‌Matthew Lewis)

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