Germany’s new centre-right government is charting an aggressive pro-business course to focus on lowering tax and bureaucratic hurdles on companies, to the detriment of the large income tax cuts Chancellor Angela Merkel and her new allies promised before last month’s election.

Participants in the coalition negotiations between the chancellor’s Christian Democratic Union and the liberal Free Democrats told the Financial Times the government would make supporting business its priority over boosting private consumption as the fastest way to drag Germany out of the economic crisis.