31 Aug 2023 08:33 – Updated 31 Aug. 2023 08:44
On 6 October, the government will present the national budget for 2024. These are some of the items that are known so far.
* A new run in the Oslofjordtunnel will start next year. The framework is NOK 6.5 billion. A smaller amount is set aside in the budget for the start of the building project.
* Start of road project on E6 between Megården and Sommerset in Sørfold in Nordland. NOK 4 billion.
* City growth agreement for Kristiansand. NOK 86.7 million.
* 1,500 new nursing home places. The framework is increased by NOK 300 million from NOK 2.7 to 3 billion.
* Construction of grain storage. NOK 63 million.
* Absentee grant for students who cannot live at home is increased by NOK 600 per month. NOK 60 million.
* Equipment grant for upper secondary school students increases by NOK 220 on average. NOK 40 million.
* Start of construction on NTNU’s campus. NOK 178 million next year, the limit is NOK 6.6 billion.
* Tromsø cultural quarter – a further NOK 8 million for the preliminary project, which will cost a total of between NOK 15 and 20 million. The cultural quarter itself is a billion-dollar project.
* Strengthen work against workplace crime in the interior. NOK 15 million.
* Money for a new tunnel on the E134 between Røldal and Seljestad in Ullensvang. The cost frame for the project is NOK 4.9 billion.
Kaski: – A prerequisite
This week the government meets to finalize next year’s state budget. They have already made several promises to SV that must be fulfilled, including on climate and benefits.
– For us, it is a prerequisite that the government follows up on everything we have agreed on, says SV’s fiscal policy spokesperson Kari Elisabeth Kaski to NTB.
On Thursday and Friday, the government meets for long meetings to finalize the state budget for 2024, which will be presented in October.
There are guaranteed to be tug-of-wars between the ministers over the priorities, but a number of points in the budget have already been nailed down – including several demands from SV.
– We have a binding agreement. In the budget for 2024, there is quite a lot of follow-up on climate that needs to be put in place. Everything from environmentally friendly and green car taxes to Norway’s answer to the USA’s Inflation Reduction Act, says Kaski.
Fairer housing benefit
SV’s Kari Elisabeth Kaski (SV) from when the agreement with Ap and Sp on a revised national budget was ready in June. At that time, the party received several so-called verbals, which the government must deliver in the autumn. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB Read more Close
When SV negotiated with the governing parties about this year’s budget and the revised budget, they made several demands about things that must be put in place later.
– It’s either things we’ve agreed to be in the budget, or we’ve agreed that they’ll be introduced from next year, and then it’s natural that it’s in the budget, says Kaski.
She says that they have also put in several animal time measures.
– There are points that are linked to making disability benefits better and housing benefits fairer, she says.
Just a list
The agreement between the governing parties and SV entails, among other things, that:
* The government must put forward a proposal for a municipal/state tourist tax at the latest in connection with the state budget for 2024.
* The government must come up with a case on the CO2 compensation scheme for industry in the budget. The aim is for the scheme to become binding for emission cuts and energy efficiency.
* The government must come up with a study of the one-off tax on fossil fuel trucks, buses and other heavy vehicles in the budget.
* The government must come up with proposals for concrete measures to ensure green industrial establishments in Norway. The measures must include instruments such as loans, guarantees and risk capital. The work must be seen in the light of other countries’ investment in green transition and green industry, such as the USA’s Inflation Reduction Act.
* The weight deduction for plug-in hybrid cars must be removed.
* The government must consider changes to the free amount in the disability benefit. Among other things, they must consider an increase of the free amount up to 1 G.
* The government must put forward proposals for changes to the housing benefit rules, which will make the scheme more effective for households with low incomes and high housing costs.
* The government must present work to create a purchasing and procurement strategy in public procurement. The strategy must ensure environmental considerations and cuts in greenhouse gases.
* The government must come up with a proposal for state funding of production schools.
* The government must investigate alternatives to the current levels of compensation in the parental allowance scheme.
Introduced in 2024
In addition, there are several measures where SV has agreed with the government on introduction in 2024:
* Among other things, the government has been asked to speed up the requirement for zero emissions in public procurement of city buses from 2025 to 1 January 2024.
* The government has also promised to come up with a proposal to increase the turnover requirement for biofuel in road traffic, in aviation and for non-road machinery, with a view to introduction from 1 January next year.
* In addition, the government will put forward proposals for requirements for zero emissions for all new service vessels in the aquaculture industry from 1 July 2024.
Vedum promises to follow up
All these are so-called verbals that SV has negotiated into its agreements with the government, as a prerequisite for securing a majority for the budgets in the Storting.
Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) promises that they will follow up.
– Of course we want to respond to the minutes the Storting has adopted. There may be different answers to some of the verbals, and things change in a year. But we follow it up, he says to NTB.
Moreover, there have already been several leaks from the budget.
Among other things, the government has announced the start of work on a new run in the Oslofjord tunnel, they have set aside money for 1,500 new nursing home places and the construction of grain warehouses to the tune of NOK 63 million.
2023-08-31 06:33:16
#leaks #state #budget
