Seniors displaced after Yarmouth fire | SaltWire #fire #yarmouth #seniors #newsSTOCKHOLM - While much of Europe faces tough choices about how to cut budgets to bring down soaring debt, thrifty Sweden has a more enviable dilemma: how to use its strong public finances to face up to the mounting challenges ahead.
With debt now around 30% of GDP - the average in Europe is around 90% - calls are increasing for a rethink to support a"green" industrial revolution that could be held back by a lack of clean electricity, housing and poor roads and railways. Steel firm SSAB's planned fossil-free plant in Lulea, Norbotten will reduce the nation's total CO2 emissions by 7%.
Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson, from the pro-business Moderate Party, said income tax cuts and benefit reform would be a better way to boost tax revenues and long-term growth than watering down fiscal rules. The pandemic and the recent global bout of inflation - which topped 10% in Sweden- also show why being able to call on big fiscal buffers is good.