Posted on November 11, 2015

Refugee Influx Could Cost Germany $22.58 Billion This Year

Reuters, November 10, 2015

Germany faces costs of over 21 billion euros ($22.58 billion)this year to house, feed and educate hundreds of thousands of refugees, the Munich-based Ifo institute said on Tuesday.

The new estimate, which assumes that 1.1 million migrants will seek asylum in Germany in 2015, represents a sharp increase over a previous projection from late September which put the cost at 10 billion euros.

That estimate had assumed 800,000 arrivals and did not include costs related to education and training, which the Ifo said were necessary to ensure that refugees, many of them fleeing war in the Middle East, were successfully integrated.

{snip}

For next year, German states and towns have said they could face costs of up 16 billion euros. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said the federal government will invest roughly 8 billion euros next year to shelter and integrate asylum seekers.

{snip}