Danish government proposes to slash investment by 7%

The Danish government is to make deep cuts to the investments in the public sector by three billion Danish kroner (around 548 million U.S. dollars), or 7 percent, in its 2015 budget, the government announced Tuesday. The decision to cut public investments comes as the economy has increasingly shown signs of righting itself after almost six years of decline. "When you are in a restoration period, then you must go from an expansionary financial policy to a less expansionary one," said Economy Minister Margrethe Vestager. Public investment has remained high since the economic downturn began in 2008 and currently stands at a record 44.1 billion kroner. Should the proposal pass parliament, this would mark the first time such expenditures had been cut. Critics, including the construction industry, argue that the cuts might be derail the nascent rebound. Their concern was shared by the far-left political party Enhedslisten, which feared the move would cost jobs. The party called on the government to pump more money into businesses working to improve the climate and environment. (1 U.S. dollar = 5.47 kroner)