When the regional council decided on the budget for 2023 in November, the deficit looked set to land at SEK 83 million. Now the forecast has been updated to almost twice that, 150 million.
According to regional director Martin Myrskog, the reason why the deficit now appears to be larger than expected is primarily inflation in combination with reduced government subsidies and costs for hired personnel.
No savings are linked to the deficit
Nevertheless, he sees no risk that the region will need to make large savings.
– We don’t really change anything because of this forecast, he says to SVT Småland.
Region Kronoberg has invoked what are called “extraordinary reasons according to the Municipal Act” which allow them to run with a deficit without having to make up for it in the next three years.
The region’s total budget is 7.47 billion for 2023.
Recently, Region Kalmar County announced savings linked to the fact that they also saw that their deficit became larger than expected.