Germany €55bn richer after accounting error

Germany's debt is 55.5 billion euros lighter after an accounting error at the "bad bank" of a mortgage lender under government control, the finance ministry said on Saturday. Quoted by Suddeutsche Zeitung, the ministry confirmed an accounting double entry error on debt held by FMS Wertmanagement, which was set up after Hypo Real Estate (HRE) was nationalised in 2009. The freed up cash means that the largest European economy's ratio of debt to gross domestic product is expected to drop from 83.7 to 81.1 percent. An opposition MP, the Social Democratic Party's Thomas Oppermann, said the so-called "bad bank" was under the direct government and asked Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble to offer an explanation. "This isn't the kind of sum that a housewife stashes away in a biscuit tin and forgets," he said, accusing the ministry of allowing itself to be sidetracked by efforts to rescue the ailing eurozone.