More and more families are finding it harder to live in Greenland. Sermitsiaq Jume 1st 2023.

Debt piles up in many homes: 'Unhappy, undignified'

The arrears amount to one and a half billion. Politicians are worried about those families where public debt just keeps rising.

Most people pay their bills, but for many, it is difficult.Leiff Josefsen

EDITORS

Thursday, June 01, 2023 - 15:30

Do you owe money to the public?

You're not the only one. Debt is the reality for many citizens. This confirms the latest statement of arrears from the Danish Tax Agency. In January, the total arrears were more than one and a half billion, to be precise: DKK 1,564,979,011. This is an increase of more than DKK 150 million compared to January 2023.

This is what the newspaper AG writes.

The number of arrears cases is also growing rapidly. These are almost astronomical figures. According to the Danish Tax Agency, there were 2022,508 arrears cases in January 722, and in 2023 that number has risen to 643,259 cases. An increase of 25 percent.

The challenges are set out in the new economic policy report from the Ministry of Finance presented to Inatsisartut. The chairman of the Democrats, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, was the only one to raise the growing arrears during the debate on the report.

- The population's debt to the public sector has increased quite significantly. This is not surprising, as Naalakkersuisut is unfortunately afraid to do anything about the problem. They have chosen to drop the payment system Ilanngaassivik, which means that the economy deteriorates by DKK 30 million every year. In addition, it creates unhappy situations in many families where public debt just keeps rising. It is not dignified, he said.

Jens-Frederik doubts that the promised debt counselling will solve the serious problems: "I do not see that it has had an effect, and I actually doubt whether Naalakkersuisut has started on this. In any case, this is a human and socio-economic problem, and it would suit Naalakkersuisut to address the problem instead of always being afraid to make even the smallest decision, the D chairman thundered.