Swedish minister sees spending curbs

Swedish Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Thursday the government would cut spending by 8 billion crowns ($933 million) and reschedule other costs to bolster public finances strained by a record influx of refugees. The centre-left government has already allocated additional resources in a supplementary budget bill to cope with the cost of migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere.
By the end of last month, Sweden had received around 150,000 migrants this year. Andersson said in a signed article in the business daily Dagens Industri that the refugee crisis was a challenge "of historic proportions" and required cutbacks in other areas in order not to breach a long-standing public spending ceiling.