Schwerin (dpa/mv) – After more than two years of Corona, Schwerin Finance Minister Heiko Geue expects additional spending for the state. The SPD politician told the “Schweriner Volkszeitung” (Wednesday) that there would be further risks to the state budget. The country’s energy bill will increase by more than 20 million euros in 2023. The country could spend up to 40 million euros on refugees – more than expected. In addition, a sustained turnaround in interest rates could lead to higher costs.
“One percentage point increase in interest rates means additional expenditure of 10 million euros in the short term, and 100 million euros in the long term,” said Geue. A wage increase as a reaction to inflation would also increase personnel expenses. On Thursday, the state parliament is to adopt the double budget 2022/23. Around 10 billion euros are planned for each of the two years. In connection with the MV Corona protection fund, 2.85 billion loans were taken out, said Geue.
Nevertheless, the minister spoke out in favor of further relieving citizens in a targeted manner – “not just those on lower incomes, but also the middle class”. He supports the proposal by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to compensate for inflation through tax-free one-off payments from employers. For this year, a total of 500 million euros would be available for MV to relieve the burden on citizens. These would mainly arrive in the second half of the year.
Geue spoke of “record heights” with regard to payments to the municipalities. They received more than 2.9 billion euros this year and over 3 billion from 2024. In social areas, the costs have increased. “And we didn’t expect the costs to increase so quickly in the day-care center.”
