(Bloomberg) — Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.

Article content

(Bloomberg) — Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.

Article content

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said he opposes the extension of the popular 9-euro ticket for local transport as it would cost 14 billion euros ($14.1 billion) that could be better deployed elsewhere.

“9 euros per month isn’t free of charge — it means someone else pays,” Lindner told an audience of German citizens at the government’s open day on Saturday in Berlin. “Money that then isn’t available for education, for example.”

The minister, who is from the business-friendly FDP party, has repeatedly rejected extending the government’s three-month experiment with ultra-cheap public transport, launched during summer to help with a cost-of-living crisis and reduce car use as energy prices soar. The discounted tickets will run out at the end of August. 

Article content

The measure has helped to temper inflation. Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said the end of the ticket and a discount of petrol is set to increase price growth by about one percentage point in the autumn. Inflation may even touch 10%, the first time it hits double digits in more than 70 years, Nagel told Rheinische Post in an interview.

A Kantar poll published last month showed the 9-euro ticket has support from most of the population.

Still, Lindner said that the objective with the measure wasn’t fully achieved as a survey showed that people hasn’t totally switched from car to public transport. Instead, most used the benefit for leisure trips.