Budget committee approves Germany's massive borrowing plans

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's parliamentary budget committee on Sunday approved plans for a massive increase in state borrowing aimed at bolstering defence and reviving growth in Europe's biggest economy.

The committee convened for an extraordinary session and backed the plans -- agreed on Friday between the conservative CDU/CSU, the Social Democrats and the Greens -- sending them on to parliament for adoption.

The bill, which includes a 500 billion euro ($540 billion) fund for infrastructure and changes to borrowing rules, will require a two-thirds majority in the parliamentary vote, which is scheduled for Tuesday, March 18.

It will be one of the last major acts of this Bundestag, or lower house, before a new one is due to convene on March 25 following an election last month.

"Today in the budget committee we have cleared the way for future investments," Greens lawmaker Sven-Christian Kindler told Reuters. $1 = 0.9192 euros)

(Reporting by Holger Hansen; Writing by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Kevin Liffey)