BERLIN, July 17 (Reuters) – The German cabinet passed its 2025 budget on Wednesday after months of wrangling, even though a 17 billion euro ($18.6 billion) gap between projected spending and revenue has still to be covered.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told a news conference that the government was looking at innovative ways to reduce the gap.

The options under scrutiny are using extra funds from the state bank KfW and converting the grants of Germany’s national rail operator Deutsche Bahn and the highway company into loans.