Schwerin (dpa/mv) – On Thursday (9:00 a.m.) the Schwerin state parliament will decide on the state’s double budget for 2022 and 2023. It comprises around ten billion euros each.
The budget is fraught with risks, as Finance Minister Heiko Geue (SPD) made clear shortly before the vote. The country’s energy bill will increase by more than 20 million euros in 2023, the minister said in a newspaper interview. 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 meant additional expenditure of 10 million euros in the short term and 100 million euros in the long term, explained Geue. A wage increase as a reaction to inflation would also increase personnel expenses.
But there is also good news: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania can count on 77 million euros more tax revenue this year than initially assumed. For 2023, the May tax estimate even resulted in a plus of 90 million euros.
According to Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD), 1.7 billion euros are to be invested this year and 1.5 billion euros next year. Accordingly, the focus is on broadband expansion and the promotion of promising energy projects such as the production of green hydrogen. In order to be able to pay the billions in expenditure planned in the double budget, the country wants to draw on its reserves. According to a statement by the Ministry of Finance, around 560 million euros are to be withdrawn this year and next.
From next year onwards, the state wants to save 150 million euros annually in the budget. Details are to be discussed in the cabinet in the fall, as Finance Minister Geue announced. No new debts should be incurred. Most recently, the country had taken out 2.85 billion euros in loans to cushion the consequences of the corona pandemic.
