The government’s spring budget was presented as a major investment. And compared to the 4 billion that were distributed last year, the 17 billion see i this year’s spring budget definitely looks like expansionary policy.
The government’s plan
The government’s long-term plan to take Sweden through the economic crisis is the following three-point program:
These points were repeated on Monday.
Additional allowance for families with children
And in the first part, to support households, you can count the additional allowance which is extended for another six months.
The additional allowance was introduced for families with children during the pandemic to afford housing costs.
That is a lot of money for a single family, SEK 2,100. Many people who receive the allowance today would probably find it difficult to pay their bills if it were removed.
Nothing else concrete
But the allowance has been extended by six months at a time for four years now, hardly surprising anyone. Unfortunately, that is where the government’s spring budget bill ends when it comes to households.
Sharon Lavieprivate economist at Lendo Bank, is critical.
– I reacted to the fact that the budget was rather vaguely worded. People talk about helping Swedish households in a tough financial position, but apart from the additional grant, there are not many concrete proposals for anything that can support the households, she says to The evening paper.
“Those who work are the losers”
She thinks the big losers are the working population.
– The losers, they are the ones who work. There have been no tax adjustments or similar for workers, she tells the newspaper.
Andreas Cervenka is critical
Also the newspaper’s economics reporter Andreas Cervenka speaks out in one comment about the spring budget, and compares the finance minister to a Wall Street fiddler.
The strengthened finances for the government in the coming years are paid for by growing debts in the municipalities, he believes.
SKR: The healthcare investment is not enough
Sweden’s Municipalities and Regions also believe that despite the large investments in care and social care, both regions and municipalities will continue to save.
It is clear from one press release on the Monday.
“Must be the government’s last crisis budget”
And from Svenskt Näringsliv comes criticism of the government’s budget.
– Despite positive signals about the focus on re-established line of work and growth, there is still a lack of concrete proposals to speed up Sweden. This must be the government’s last crisis budget, says Sven-Olov Daunfeldt, chief economist Swedish Confederation of Enterprise, in a comment.
Timbro: “Tone-deaf with pretend job”
The largest think tank within the ideological right is Timbro. They think the government should have lowered taxes instead of pushing money into municipalities and regions, which they call fake jobs:
– Sweden has zero growth, and the EU’s third highest unemployment rate. In that situation, investing in fake jobs instead of reduced taxes and reforms for real jobs is tone deaf,” says the chief economist Fredrik Kopsch.
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