Economy

Record high debts – more people want debt relief

Swedes' debts to the Swedish Enforcement Authority are at record highs and more and more people are applying for debt relief. Financial problems are increasing among people over 65, reports Ekonomiekot Extra.

According to Davor Vuleta, a private finance spokesperson at the Swedish Enforcement Authority, debts have often been with them for a long time for those over 65 who apply for debt relief. And he believes that it is positive to some extent that the number of applications has increased.

– Half of the 65-plus people in the Swedish Enforcement Authority's register have been there for 20 years or more, he says in the program.

During the first half of the year, nearly 18,000 people applied for debt relief, an increase of nearly 30 percent compared to three years ago. 

New customs rules stop packages to the US: "Affect all countries"

Changed customs rules in the US mean that packages from Sweden and several other countries are now stopped, writes TT. Previously, goods worth less than $800 could be sent duty-free to the US, something that was changed during the summer. But it is still unclear how the packages will be cleared and how much duty they will be charged.

Until it is sorted out, packages sent via Postnord will be returned to the sender. Björn Bergman, head of communications at Postnord, states that the change will primarily affect small and medium-sized e-commerce companies.

- This is worldwide and affects all countries, he tells TT.
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Norwegian growth
Utsira echoes almost empty - only one child lives on the island

The small Norwegian island of Utsira is struggling with a declining population and now only one child is enrolled in the island's only preschool. But politicians on Utsira hope that investments in offshore wind power and the salmon industry will reverse the trend and attract new jobs, reports Norwegian TV2.

Knut Vareide, a senior researcher at the Telemark Research Institute, states that the method of attracting new residents through investments in the business sector is proven. But at the same time, he predicts that the trend cannot be stopped completely, writes SVT Nyheter. 

Stoltenberg's tax proposal is rejected - by his own daughter

Earlier this year, Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg (AP) presented a proposal to give 100,000 randomly selected young people tax breaks for up to five years. The proposal has been heavily criticized, including from the leader of the Progress Party, Sylvi Listhaug, writes Dagens Næringsliv.

Listhaug called the initiative a "tax lottery".

But criticism has also come from much closer quarters: from the Finance Minister's own daughter, Catharina Stoltenberg. In a debate article in Aftenposten, Stoltenberg and her co-authors criticize the method, rather than the politics behind the proposal. Catharina Stoltenberg is a PhD candidate at a mathematics institute.

Father Jens tells DN that the criticism from his daughter “came completely out of the blue”, but says it is excellent that she is participating in the research debate.

– I was happy because she knows these things so well.