"The state 'brake' on electricity and gas prices will not be extended until March 2024 but will last until the end of this year," Lindner said in an interview with German radio station Deutschlandfunk.
Spending from the Germany's Economic Stabilization Fund, including on measures to maintain energy and electricity prices at the same level, will expire on December 31, the minister said. He added that he also opposed reforming the mechanism for combating fuel prices inflation.
"Our state's problem is not with the incomes but with the spending," Lindner said.
The minister also doubted that it would be possible to approve the 2024 draft budget before the end of December, but added that "promising" reforms were on the way.
The Constitutional Court of Germany ruled last week that the move by the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Free Democrats — known as the "traffic light" coalition — to transfer unused pandemic-era loans to a climate fund would violate the debt brake rule, which is a constitutionally enshrined cap on new government borrowing. As a result, 60 billion euros ($65 billion) was wiped from the government's spending plan for 2024.