Denmark presents “tight” fiscal budget to fight inflation

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Denmark’s government presented on Monday what it said was a “tight” fiscal spending plan for 2023, seeking to help bring down soaring inflation with a much-delayed budget for the year.

“The primary aim is to get Denmark through tough times,” Finance Minister Nicolai Wammen told reporters, calling the government’s policy a “very responsible and broad fiscal budget”.

“It’s a fiscal budget that doesn’t add fuel to the inflation, but that fights it instead,” he added.

The fiscal budget presented on Monday has a tightening effect on the economy equivalent to 0.9 percentage point, the government said.

Danish consumer prices rose last year at a 40-year high rate of 7.7% but inflation is expected to ease to 3.9% this year and 2.8% in 2024, the government announced in March.

The broad budget deal in parliament came after a five-month delay following a snap election and change of government in late 2022.

(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik)

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