The Danish government on Tuesday pledged more than 10 billion kroner ($1.9 billion, 1.3 billion euros) to kick-start the country’s economy, as it reportedly prepared to revise down its 2011 growth forecast. “When the world is as uncertain as it is now, we need to plot a safe course, which is what the government is doing,” Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, of the Liberal Party, said as he presented his “Sustainable Growth” plan along with Lars Barfoed, who heads the centre-right coalition’s junior partner the Conservative Party.
Under the package, presented amid growing rumours a general election will be called soon, the government aims among other things to boost road and rail infrastructure investments by more than three billion kroner. The plan also includes a package to help property owners by suspending a number of fees and property taxes on real estate transactions carried out between now and January 1, 2013. Those measures closely resemble a proposal put forward by the centre-left opposition at the weekend in what was widely seen as pre-emptive blow against the government ahead of elections which must be held by November 12 at the latest.
