Berlin: German Finance Minister Christian Lindner revealed on Monday that interest payments on Germany's public debt have increased dramatically from €4 billion ($4.2 billion) in 2021 to €40 billion (over $42 billion) at the moment.

"These are the funds that, in the future, we won't have enough of to fund other initiatives, such as investments in climate protection, digitalization, and education. So, it makes sense economically to stop the debt's growth," he said in a tweet.

The minister also stated that Germany would increase aid to Ukraine, strengthen its own armed forces, and continue to increase its energy security.

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According to the International Monetary Fund, Germany's public debt exceeds €2.3 trillion ($2.4 trillion) and represents 68.3% of its GDP.

In an interview with the news outlet T-Online last week, Lindner claimed that the rise in debt was brought on by the need to take emergency measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy crisis.

In this regard, he insisted that spending must be limited by the government or else it will not be able to address pressing economic issues like declining wealth.

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The largest economy in the EU has had difficulty adjusting to rapidly rising energy prices. The country, whose industry is primarily powered by natural gas, has vowed to replace imports from its former major supplier, Russia, by as early as mid-2024.

However, efforts to diversify gas supplies have made the energy shortage worse. The pressure from EU sanctions, maintenance issues, and the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines have all made the situation worse.

In order to combat the worsening energy crisis, the German government plans to issue record amounts of debt this year.

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The Federal Finance Agency estimates that the total amount of new federal debt will increase to approximately €539 billion ($570 billion), increasing servicing costs to €42.2 billion ($45 billion) from €15.3 billion ($16 billion).