Rosy govt. growth projection for Denmark

The Social Democrat-led government has presented its budget proposal for next year, reports Seven59.dk and other Danish media.

The coalition’s guarantor of a parliamentary majority, the far-left Red/Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) will be the first party invited to negotiate the budget, which contains new measures to boost growth and employment.

In case of a lack of consensus between the two, the Social Democrats will negotiate the proposal with the opposition.

Ambitious growth forecasts

The government is upbeat that the economy is winning the fight against the recession with a growth forecast of 1.7 per cent, placing Denmark amongst the best in Europe.

Not everyone agrees though. Economists have doubts that the economy would rebound back without difficulty from its deepest economic crisis since World War II. Denmark is still struggling with the European debt crisis and weak private spending.

The government also anticipates that the public sector deficit will be halved to around DKK 36.5bn, bringing Denmark in line with the EU’s requirement of a maximum three per cent GDP deficit.

Spending Increases on Education

The government plans to increase funding for education by nearly three billion to DKK 20.2bn. Around half a billion kroner of that amount will go towards new green education initiatives.

There will be a DKK 2.9b more funding for student grants and DKK 500m will go into providing training for the unskilled.

Danish universities have braced up for the largest university uptake ever.

Unemployment still a challenge

The government expects the jobless figures to top 158,000 next year, 6,000 more than previously projected.

»We support employment through investments including infrastructure. We have also allocated more money for education so that young people gain the knowledge and skills necessary for them to perform in future labor markets,« says Bjarne Corydon in a press statement.

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