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ECONOMY

Danish central bank raises interest rate by 0.5 percent 

Denmark’s central bank Nationalbanken raised its interest rate by 0.5 percent on Thursday in response to a similar move by the European Central Bank (ECB).

Danish central bank raises interest rate by 0.5 percent 
A file photo of Denmark's central bank, Nationalbanken, which followed the ECB in raising its interest rates on Thursday. Photo: Jeppe Bjørn Vejlø/Jeppe Vejlø/Ritzau Scanpix

The Danish central bank confirmed the decision in a statement after the ECB earlier on Thursday increased its rate by the same amount, bringing it up to 3 percent.

The latest raise is the sixth time within the last year that the ECB has put its interest rate up.

The new rate is the highest set by the ECB since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.

The Danish National Bank’s interest rates are slightly lower than the ECB’s — 2.6 percent for deposits and 2.75 percent for loans following Thursday’s increases. That is because Nationalbanken increased its interest rates by 0.15 percent less than the ECB the last time the rates were raised, at the start of February. Similarly, it raised its rate by slightly less than the ECB in December.

There is nothing unusual about the Danish central bank’s decision to follow the ECB in raising the interest rate, however.

Earlier this week, Nationalbanken called for political measures to keep a rein on inflation as it said wage increases given to people under the Danish labour system in 2023 and 2024 could help to keep inflation levels up.

It also predicted house prices are set to fall by almost 10 percent this year.

One effect of raised interest rates is that people who have variable rate mortgages could find themselves paying more for their loans.

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ECONOMY

’Record number’ of foreigners move to Denmark for work

A record number of people moved to Denmark from abroad for work reasons in 2022, according to national agency Statistics Denmark.

’Record number’ of foreigners move to Denmark for work

A total of 31,600 people moved to Denmark to work last yer, according to a Statistics Denmark review released on Tuesday.

The figure corresponds to a 24 percent increase compared to 2021 and is the highest in the history of the statistic, which goes back to 1997.

The average number of work immigrants in the decade prior to 2022 was 21,000 people.

Specifically, the number describes the amount of people who were given work permits in Denmark in a given year.

The fact that the statistic has reached a historical high is remarkable, according to an economist.

“In a time with a major labour shortage, Danish businesses have succeeded in recruiting labour from abroad. That is a big success story, which certainly ensures growth and stability in the Danish economy in the period after the coronavirus pandemic,” senior economist Tore Stramer of the Danish Chamber of Commerce told news wire Ritzau.

“The large inflow of foreign labour has held of a threatening overheating of the labour market and ensured stable high growth in the economy,” he said.

READ ALSO: Danish parliament set to vote through relaxed work permit rules

Broken down by nationality, the largest proportion of people moving to Denmark to work came from EU countries in Eastern Europe.

Some 6,000 Romanian nationals were granted Danish work permits in 2022, with 3,700 coming from Poland.

Employment levels in Denmark continue to set records, confounding an uncertain economic outlook and high inflation.

READ ALSO: Danish economy defies headwinds to grow by 3.6 percent

Foreign labour is a driving factor for high employment levels, Stramer said.

“The large inflow of foreign labour has been the absolute primary factor behind the strong rise in employment in recent years,” he said.

“Specifically, foreign labour has driven around 40 percent of the overall increase in employment over the last three years,” he said.

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