Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    BERLIN, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government Monday night settled on a new stimulus package of 50 billion euros (66.8 billion U.S. dollars) to boost economy in the next two years.

    The three parties of the ruling coalition reached an agreement on a package of stimulus measures including some 36 billion euros (48.6 billion dollars) in infrastructure investment and lower taxes after a six-hour meeting, according to the report of Bloomberg.

    In addition, the governing parties also committed themselves to establishing a massive government fund of 100 billion euros (135 billion dollars) to provide loans and guarantees for struggling industries.

    "In all, it's a package that will help us get through the crisis and secure jobs," Volker Kauder, parliamentary leader of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told reporters Monday.

    The three parties within the coalition -- the Social Democrats (SPD), the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the CDU -- have been arguing with each other for weeks on items of the new package as each of them wanted to show more contribution to it.

    Chancellor Merkel initially resisted and hesitated to save the economy through vast government spending as keeping balance of the federal budget was her priority. However, a series of bad economic data and worse prospects of a general election have finally made her change mind.

    A press conference for the new package is to be held at noon Tuesday. During the conference, Merkel and Frank-Walter Steinmeier who has been nominated by the SPD for the chancellorship at this year's election will explain the details of the package.

    The new package is the second German stimulus program in two months after lawmakers approved a rescue package of 32 billion euros (43 billion dollars) in November.

    In total, the German stimulus measures will take 82 billion euros (110.7 billion dollars) over the next two years, or about 1.6 percent of its gross domestic product, the biggest economic injection in Europe.