Swedish gov't unveils fall budget

Swedish government presented its fall budget Tuesday, promising reforms to boost welfare, cut unemployment and fight climate change.

The budget, titled "Responsibility for Sweden", sets out low-income earners and women as the biggest winners. The largest allocation is 10 billion SEK (1.168 billion U.S. dollars) for municipalities and county councils, which employ more women than men.

"These 10 million will go toward improving welfare," Minister for Finance Magdalena Andersson said as she presented the budget. "Still today, many women work part-time within schools, health and social care. This will make it easier for women who want to take up full-time work."

The 10 billion earmarked for municipalities and county councils represents almost half the extra spending presented on Tuesday, but the Swedish Associations of Local Authorities and Regions said it was not enough.

"We are of course pleased that the government has paid attention to the tough situation faced by municipalities and county councils and is now making permanent a general state contribution of 10 billion SEK per year," the association's chair Lena Micko said in a statement. However, she added that the money will not nearly cover all the costs of for instance of training more health care staff and teachers.

Moreover, a majority of the newly arrived migrants in Sweden are not yet in employment and the refugee reception continues to bring significant costs for municipalities and county councils, the statement said.

The government has budgeted 3.5 billion SEK to refugees and integration, including to cover the increased costs for Sweden's Migration Agency as well as a series of initiatives, such as efforts to accelerate new arrivals' entry into the labor market.

"We have carried out a tight fiscal policy and the large deficit of over 60 billion kronor that the government inherited has essentially been wiped out," Andersson said in a statement. "This has been done despite the strain on public finances that have come about as a result of the large number of asylum seekers in 2015. This gives us the possibility to implement necessary reforms in order to meet the challenges we face both in the long term and in the here and now."

The government said all budget proposals have been analyzed from an equality perspective. Last week, the government also announced its intention to set up a new national equality authority and it will soon present a new national strategy against domestic violence.

The government is also making significant investments in tackling climate change, with 1.8 million SEK budgeted for next year. In total, the government is setting aside nearly 13 billion SEK for climate policy initiatives over four years, from 2017 to 2020. This represents Sweden's biggest ever investment in the environment, the government said. The funds will be used to develop fossil free transport and renewable energy and will also be allocated as international climate investments. (1 U.S. dollar=8.559 SEK) Endit