Brandenburg's budget 2025/2026: Savings despite record spending!

Brandenburg's budget 2025/2026: Savings despite record spending!

On May 14, 2025, the state government of Brandenburg approved the double budget for the years 2025 and 2026. The draft envisages expenditure of around 16.7 billion euros for 2025 and 17.4 billion euros for 2026. This was decided by the coalition of SPD and BSW and the budget will now be submitted to the state parliament for approval. Finance Minister Robert Crumbach described the budget negotiations as the most difficult in recent years and emphasized that the budget was “not a red pencil budget”.

Important aspects of the budget are the planned expenditure, which has similar values ​​to the previous year. Nevertheless, a decline in investments to 1.9 billion euros is recorded for 2025 - 400 million euros less than in 2024 - while investments of 2.28 billion euros are planned for 2026. This corresponds to an investment rate of 11.7% for 2025 and 13.1% for 2026. The final decision on the budget is due in June 2025, and the state parliament has the opportunity to make changes in the coming weeks.

Household structure and challenges

Crumbach's draft budget shows a balanced budget, without significant leeway or increases. The coverage gaps amount to 1.9 billion euros for 2025 and 2.49 billion euros for 2026. Savings and cyclical borrowing are planned to close these gaps. It is also expected that repayments for loans from 2020 to 2023 will be suspended in 2025 and 2026, which should create additional financial leeway.

The municipalities will be particularly affected by this draft budget, as they will have to expect declining allocations from the state budget due to stagnating tax revenues and rising prices. The Potsdam Chamber of Crafts warns against exaggerated expectations of the federal funds that should be included in the budget and does not see any rapid impetus for investment in the state. In addition, the municipalities have to settle repayment claims amounting to around 90 million euros, which result from excessive housing benefit subsidies.

Investments and funding programs

The government is planning a number of programs that specifically address the needs of communities and their development. As part of a municipal investment program, 500 million euros are to be made available in cooperation with the ILB. In addition, 30 million euros will go to districts and independent cities to support refugees. Digital transformation will also be supported, with 54.6 million euros for 2025, rising to 57.4 million euros by 2028.

In addition, funding will be increased in the areas of health, education and sport. Hospital funding will be increased to 190 million euros annually until 2028, and 10 million euros annually are earmarked for the pact for care. Sports funding is expected to increase further from 24 million euros in 2024 to 27 million euros in 2025.

With this double budget, the state government shows its desire to overcome the financial challenges and at the same time support key investments in infrastructure and social areas. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how the state parliament will react to the proposals and what adjustments may still be made.

For more information, the details of the draft budget can be viewed on the Ministry of Finance website ( Ministry of Development and Craft sheet ).