Government allocates 2.2 billion EUR in crisis aid
The Norwegian government today allocated 20 billion NOK (2,2 billion EUR) in a crisis package meant to help stimulate tumbling domestic industry and stagger increasing unemployment. About 460 million NOK of the sum will be spent in the country’s two northernmost counties.
Of the 20 million NOK, 16.75 billion NOK will be spent on new government measures, while the remaining 3.25 billion NOK will be tax cuts, DN.no reports. Of the sum, about 460 million NOK (51 mill EUR) will be spent in the two northernmost Finnmark and Troms Counties, NRK reports.
The crisis money comes as Norwegian economy is facing increasing hardships. Head of the Federation of Norwegian Industries , Stein Lier Hansen, in a press conference last week said that Norwegian industry is “in free fall”. A new report from the federation shows that nine of ten Norwegian industrial companies are experiencing a full stop in new orders.
The report indicates that 100,000 Norwegian jobs are in danger, E24.no reports. The gloomy perspectives are confirmed also by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who last week said that “the figures confirm that we are facing the strongest economic setback since the 1930s, newspaper VG reports.
Also figures on bankruptcies shows a negative trend. According to E24.no, the number of bankruptcies was up 70 percent the last quarter of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007.
