Response to interpellation 2023/24:549 on rising food prices

Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)

Mr. Speaker! Jytte Guteland has asked me what I do within my area of responsibility to remedy the development of rising food prices that risk affecting both the Swedish people and Swedish farmers.

Inflation has hit households hard, and hardest of all against those who already have small margins. The recent decline in inflation shows that the fight against inflation is taking effect. But the danger is not over yet, and that is why it is important to complete the work of bringing down inflation. The government's budget for 2024 shows that it is possible to combine a restrained fiscal policy to fight inflation with measures that strengthen household finances and support welfare. But there also lies a responsibility here on several other actors in the economy to prevent the high inflation from becoming permanent. This applies in particular to the food industry and retail, which have a responsibility not to raise prices more than is proportionate. In the budget for 2024, the government therefore allocated funds to the Swedish Competition Authority to tighten the monitoring of industries with lacking competition.

Many households with weak finances have received compensation for the high inflation through price-indexed grants and transfers. Electricity support, reduced energy tax on fuels, and reduced reduction obligation are measures that have been particularly significant for households with small margins. Enhanced job tax deduction for low- and middle-income earners and reduced tax for pensioners have also been important for strengthening household finances.

To support agriculture, the government has extended the temporarily increased reduction of tax on agricultural diesel and allocated funds to a crisis support. Agriculture also benefits from the lower fuel costs resulting from the reduced reduction obligation. Lower costs for agriculture should ultimately also benefit households in the form of lower price increases.

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Jytte Guteland (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister for Finance, for the answer to my interpellation!

The interpellation was submitted against the background that food prices are and have for a long time been high. Many are the Swedes who shrink back when the refrigerator is empty and they need to go and shop. They feel a sense of hesitation, because they know that it is going to be terribly expensive.

It has been this way for a long time. In previous debates, we have spoken about how many resources are already, so to speak, exhausted. Money has already been borrowed from relatives, and the small savings accounts have run out. The cuts that are possible to make, the Swedish people have many times already made.

Despite this, it is very difficult for many to manage their finances. What the Swedish people are cutting back on most of all, according to the National Food Agency, is fruit and vegetables. There have been significant declines here. This means, for example, that children do not eat as much fruit and vegetables as before. This also risks affecting public health in the future.

The Swedish Food Agency says that almost one in ten parents is worried about their children's hunger. They experience that they do not have the possibility to feed their children. It is hair-raising that in 2024 we are to have that type of reports about the Swedish people.

My question to Elisabeth Svantesson is therefore: What is the Finance Minister actually doing to counteract the very difficult situation that the Swedish people are experiencing? There has been a lot of finger-pointing among many ministers in the government to which the Finance Minister belongs when it comes to just food prices. So that was the case at least before the 2022 election. Falukorv was waved around. There were campaigns against the S-government regarding food prices. Still, with just this Finance Minister and this government, it has been the worst times of high prices that the Swedish people have experienced in modern times.

Therefore, I want to ask: What is the plan from the Minister for Finance's office regarding the upcoming spring budget? What is the plan to remedy the difficulty that specifically families with children are experiencing? If children do not eat fruit and vegetables, we will actually face challenges for public health in the future as well. And if children do not eat until they are full, it is dangerous for public health here and now. Furthermore, it risks affecting schooling and the possibility of completing their studies.

We from the Social Democrats' side have in previous years said that we want to strengthen the child allowance. We want to invest in maintenance support. We have also added resources to the municipalities, among other things, to help with debt restructuring. But the messages regarding this government are that one seems to be satisfied with the situation as it is now.

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Linus Sköld (S)

Mr. Speaker! As Jytte Guteland points out in her interpellation and in her contribution, the rise in food prices is a dramatic problem for a large proportion of the Swedish population.

Even though Elisabeth Svantesson is right that several transfers in the Swedish social security system are indexed, not all of them are. One can note, for example, that the child allowance is not adjusted upwards. It has been eroded so that a child allowance this year, calculated in 2020 prices, is only worth 985 kronor. The child allowance is thus nominally set at 1,250 kronor. Because it has not been adjusted upwards since 2020, it is now worth 985 kronor. It is an erosion of over 20 percent over the four years.

In a similar way, it is with the basic levels in the unemployment insurance and the parental insurance. In the same way, it is with the ceiling amount in the a-kassan. In the same way, it is with a long series of components in the social insurance system.

For all people who are dependent on this - whom Elisabeth Svantesson speaks of somewhat contemptuously as benefit-dependent - it is serious that the price of the Easter board last weekend has increased by between 7 and 12 percent since the previous year. The price depends somewhat on which goods it is. The eggs are 12 percent more expensive. The chocolate is 7 percent more expensive. The salmon is 10 percent more expensive. The herring is 8 percent more expensive. These are some examples of what the Swedes have on the Easter board and which one needs to be able to buy even if one has the guarantee level in the parental insurance or, for that matter, the ceiling amount in the a-kassa.

Elisabeth Svantesson celebrates that the fight against inflation is having an effect. Yes, price increases are easing. But price increases of the kind we have seen in recent years mean that Swedish households will be poorer for a long time to come, not least because the price of food has increased more in Sweden than it has in our Nordic neighboring countries.

Elisabeth Svantesson's fight against inflation has, frankly, been less effective than that of the neighboring countries, and she has no ambitions to protect the most vulnerable households from the consequences of these price increases.

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Edward Riedl (M)

Mr. Speaker! Let me first say that one becomes quite provoked when one hears this debate! Let me return to why.

The high inflation has plagued Swedish households. It has plagued households all over the world. Everyone has felt the higher costs. It is tough for many to make the household finances work.

This government's primary priority has been to fight inflation and stop the continued rising costs for what all people need: food, fuel, electricity, and so on. This has been the government's primary priority: fighting inflation and supporting households.

Now one sits here and hears the Social Democrats, who are responsible for a great deal. They stand and provoke in the speaker's chair and pretend as if nothing is happening. I intend to list some of the things that they are responsible for.

One of the things that Swedish households have struggled with is high food prices, as a result of a multitude of different things. Something that has been a pressure regarding the prices in Sweden is high electricity prices and increased reduction obligation, things that the previous Social Democratic government is entirely responsible for.

Nuclear power was phased out together with the three parties that were in government with. It led to higher energy prices. It was a pressure regarding the price of food. The high electricity bills that Swedish households have received are a direct result of nuclear power being phased out.

The high fuel prices - expensive petrol and expensive diesel - are a direct consequence of the previous Social Democratic government's experiment with the reduction obligation. It resulted in Sweden having the world's most expensive diesel and the world's second most expensive petrol. Those costs had fundamentally nothing to do with inflation. They had to do with the previous government.

Now, different Social Democratic representatives stand in this rostrum and speak warmly for the Swedish households. That is good, but they take no responsibility regarding the fact that they have been complicit in these high costs falling on the households. I find that provoking. That is why, Mr. Speaker, I chose to take the rostrum.

Is there no self-reflection? Do you not regret any of what you did, which has dumped high costs on Swedish households? You are now standing there and barking at the Finance Minister who is actually solving these issues. This Finance Minister has ensured that the reduction obligation has decreased. Fuel has become several kronor cheaper. This is good. It means that Swedish households can now afford to refuel. The electricity bill has become cheaper. This government had a historically large electricity subsidy to compensate for the fact that the previous Social Democratic government shut down nuclear power.

This Finance Minister is solving the problems that the previous Social Democratic government was involved in creating and the problems that inflation, which hit the entire world, has created. Those problems are being solved by this Finance Minister and this government.

I would, Mr. Speaker, like to have a bit of self-reflection in the speaker's chair when the Social Democrats now come up and say that they are concerned about the high costs that have hit households. We are also concerned. Therefore, we are solving both the problems that the Social Democrats were involved in creating and the problems that the high inflation has created.

It is provoking to see Social Democrats who do not want to be held accountable for what they themselves have been involved in causing: high costs for households. This government is now ensuring that these costs are lowered.

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Isak From (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister for Finance, and thank you also to Jytte Guteland for an important interpellation that can be said to follow in the footsteps of the previous ones!

The Minister for Finance also refers here to the diesel subsidy for farmers. That subsidy is justifiable because it is not the farmers who have had to bear the brunt of the skyrocketing food prices. These have landed in the pockets of the food giants and the middlemen, so even though the Minister for Finance has talked himself warm about lowered food prices, the talk has not helped.

I remember 2016-2017 when many of Elisabeth Svantesson's party comrades along with several bourgeois parties demanded various forms of support for the farmers, support which also came. The Social Democratic government was down in Brussels and negotiated an increased milk support for the farmers. But now I have not heard a single sound about the Finance Minister having negotiated in the EU for any new milk support for Swedish farmers or, for that matter, egg or meat producer support. I have not heard a sound about that, only that the Finance Minister is talking with the food giants.

One also cannot help but be a bit provoked by Edward Riedl, who stands up in the speaker's chair and talks about the electricity support—the totally failed electricity support, which completely missed northern Sweden and was instead noticed for going to the largest electricity consumers with pools and other things in southern Sweden. In the end, the electricity support did go to those in southern Sweden who actually needed it, however, not to the municipalities. The municipalities were left without electricity support. That can also be kept in mind when one talks about the electricity support.

And how can one talk about gasoline and diesel prices without remembering what Putin's war of invasion in Ukraine resulted in for gasoline and diesel prices across Europe? That one can forget to mention it in the Riksdag's speaker's chair can also be provocative.

Just as was said in the previous interpellation debate, it is the households that have the worst margins that are affected by the high food prices. It is the families with the lowest incomes that are affected by the SD-led government's fiscal policy. We must be aware of that. It is a choice the government is making.

(Applause)

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Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)

Mr. Speaker! We have for some time here in the chamber discussed the effects of inflation in various ways. I also want to thank Jytte Guteland for this question. It is naturally the case that many families with children are struggling to put food on the table for their children. It is also tough for very many of Sweden's farmers, who are actually the ones who ensure that there is still food to put on the table.

I have received a question, Mr. Speaker, and now I intend to stick to it. These debates tend to be about very many things, but the question was what I do within my area of responsibility to remedy the development of rising food prices, which now risk affecting both the Swedish people and Swedish farmers.

Throughout 2022, food prices rose dramatically, something that largely influenced and was a major contributing cause of inflation. In April 2023, we saw a trend break regarding exactly that, i.e., that inflation was not driven in the same way.

In March last year, I had talks with the food giants. The Social Democratic members are welcome to mock this, but I believe it was important. You spoke about how we should talk to the food giants – I did that. Many of us thought it, I did it, and it had an effect. I believe that the political pressure from different sides and corners was important. Now we do not see the same food price development as we did then.

It was an important matter - sometimes it is good to talk!

Another thing the government has done is to support the agricultural sector. It concerned 200 million kronor in crisis support due to the drought. We extended the reduction of carbon and energy tax on agricultural diesel, and from the turn of the year, we lowered the reduction obligation. We did this for the farmers. They still have it tough, but it eased the situation.

The reduction obligation also plays a major role in this context, not only for private individuals and households who are dependent on their cars but also for transport, for farmers and for many others. The fact that the reduction obligation and thus the diesel prices have decreased is therefore relevant.

These are some of the things we have concretely done to mitigate the effects of a brutal inflation.

Mr. Speaker! I will not say much more in this contribution, but it is very clear that what we do bit by bit makes a difference. The Social Democrats do not like lowered reduction obligations and lowered taxes for ordinary people who work – that is very clear. Lowered tax on pensions, perhaps they like that. I do not know. But all of this affects families and households and ensures that we can get through this situation, even if it is tough for many.

This interpellation is about food prices. I have now explained what I and the government are doing, Mr. Speaker.

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Jytte Guteland (S)

Mr. Speaker! In my interpellation, I wanted to ask the Minister for Finance what she is doing to remedy the situation that the Swedish people face when they go shopping today, when prices remain high and in some cases continue to rise. We have seen in Matpriskollen that they have continued to rise during 2024.

My question is about how one wants to help the Swedish people and, above all, families with children to move forward. It is not just about high prices in the grocery stores for some month. It has been that way for a very long time, actually during the entire time that the current government has been in power.

It is clear that a very large reason for this is rising energy prices, external influence and the war - things that exist outside of Sweden's borders. But a large part of the answers could have come from the Swedish government in the form of a budget that distributed to those who have the greatest need of support in difficult times.

The Social Democratic opposition has been clear: We would have made these priorities. We would have invested in families with children with an increased child allowance, with an increased maintenance support, and with a reinforcement to the municipalities so that they can help with both debt restructuring and leisure activities, because we know that families with children also cut back on this.

It was an eager Moderate colleague of the Minister for Finance, also a parliamentary colleague of mine, who was up in the debate and spoke about how this should be about what the Social Democrats have done historically. What was forgotten in that contribution was that when the National Institute of Economic Research looked at food prices 2019-2023, they concluded that the price increases on food have been 6 percentage points higher than at the producer level. It is therefore the food giants who have taken out profits in this tough situation.

The Minister for Finance strikes her chest and says that she has had conversations with the food giants, but obviously not much has happened. Just as previous debaters during this long and important discussion about the tough costs for the Swedish people have pointed out, it is actually the case that there has been a price development over a long period. The Swedish people are suffering under many negative price increases. It is not the case that there are now large margins for the food giants to continue raising prices.

The Minister for Finance should be much more active on that issue as well, so I am surprised that we did not get clearer answers regarding what is intended to be done to strengthen the distribution so that the families who have it the toughest will get more money in their pockets, or how one wants to handle that some take advantage of the crisis. It is not the Swedish farmers who are doing it, so it is not a question of any reduction obligation. Instead, it is about food giants taking advantage because there are invisible links – they think. But for us Social Democrats, they are visible. We demand that the Minister for Finance does much more and that the current government stands on the people's side, just as finance ministers in some other countries have done during this crisis.

(Applause)

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Linus Sköld (S)

Mr. Speaker! Elisabeth Svantesson thinks that the debate has come to be about all sorts of things. Yes, Edward Riedl would rather debate nuclear power than rising food prices and household finances. It is clear. I do not intend to fall into that trap. But Elisabeth Svantesson actually pointed out in her response herself that many households with weak finances have received compensation for the high inflation via price-indexed grants and transfers. I have some examples of that not all transfers work in that way.

One can take the maintenance support, which we have otherwise proposed should be increased, as an example. It has lost approximately 300 kronor in value over the last four years. Sickness benefit for job seekers has decreased by over 20 percent in value. The national standard in the social assistance has lost several hundred kronor. The basic level in the unemployment insurance has lost 2,500 kronor. The ceiling in the unemployment insurance has lost 5,000 kronor in value. The child allowance has lost 265 kronor in value and the basic level in the parental insurance 1,600 kronor. The ceiling level in the parental insurance has also lost 1,600 kronor in value. The ceiling level in the pregnancy benefit has gone down by 1,000 kronor. These are effects of the inflation that the government has failed to combat. The government has only sat on its hands and waited for the inflation to pass.

Elisabeth Svantesson said that she has answered the question, and that likely means that she does not want to debate this question any further and that she will abstain from the next opportunity to speak and the opportunity after that. I think it is a poor practice to act that way. My three interpellation debates earlier today were merged into one, and then one abstains from the final speech in the hope of avoiding staying past the group meeting time. I think that is unfair.

(Applause)

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Edward Riedl (M)

Mr. Speaker! Linus Sköld wants to avoid falling into the trap and only spoke about the high food prices. I hope those who have listened to the debate nevertheless understand that high fuel prices are something that has caused food to become more expensive. If one increases the reduction obligation and the taxes on fuels, it means that the farmers get much higher costs, and then the food ultimately becomes more expensive.

When it comes to the high electricity bills, one does not want to talk about the consequences either. They obviously hit households directly in the form of higher electricity bills, but they also hit all producers - both food producers and others. Linus Sköld and his colleagues here are Social Democrats and have therefore been involved in driving up fuel prices to become the highest in the world. They were involved in shutting down nuclear power, and that causes high costs for industry and households. It is clear that they do not want to talk about it! I understand that too, Mr. Speaker. But those are the reasons for this. You Social Democrats can sit and laugh and try to talk about something else, but it is a fact.

Mr. Speaker! It becomes almost fact-resistant when Linus Sköld tells that what the government has done to combat inflation has not had an effect. In that case, he is not taking into account any news reporting or facts from SCB. Swedish inflation is turning down very quickly - faster than in many other countries in Europe. It is downright fact-resistant to stand here and talk about that it has not had an effect.

Households are struggling as a result of the high costs. I see that the speaking time is starting to run out, so I will not have time to say everything I want to in this speech, but to Isak From I want to briefly say that it was the old, Social Democratic government's instructions that caused Norrland to be left without electricity support. Elisabeth Svantesson corrected that, so that the money reached the electricity consumers even in Norrland. That was good.

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Isak From (S)

Mr. Speaker! I actually asked if the Minister for Finance had been in Brussels and negotiated for any other support for Swedish farmers, because it is clear that the producers are the foundation now that we need to have increased self-sufficiency of food in Sweden. It is the farmers' work that ultimately puts the food on our tables.

It is clear that if one is to strictly follow what the farmers and their central organization LRF wrote in their consultation response regarding the reduction obligation, the government's proposal for a reduction was among the dumbest they had heard of. Both LRF and Skogsindustrierna wanted a balanced reduction obligation. It creates competitiveness and self-sufficiency of fuels.

Putin's war against Ukraine caused many to be affected - Germany with several, all of Europe. We Social Democrats have re-evaluated parts of the reduction obligation and have landed on that 20 percent is approximately what we should have. In addition, those who are completely dependent on cars must be supported. They must be supported in sparsely populated areas and in the countryside who do not have the possibility to use public transport, and also support families with children with an extra child allowance. Social Democratic policy is from each according to their ability to each according to their need, and then we must see that it is now the families with children who have the greatest need.

(Applause)

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Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)

Mr. Speaker! I want to emphasize once again how glad I am that inflation is on its way down. I am not glad for my own sake, but for all the hard-working people all over Sweden who have felt the effects of inflation in a brutal way. It may have been about not being able to buy Christmas presents for their children as planned, or not having the food one prefers to give to their children on the table. It may have been about an elderly pensioner who could hardly stay in the apartment they bought just a few years ago when costs skyrocketed. It is for their sake that I am glad that inflation is now going down, but also for the Swedish economy because it gives us the conditions to get through this downturn and this economic cycle in a way that we truly need.

Sweden shall be built wealthier. It is a task that I take with the utmost seriousness. I understand that Jytte Guteland would like to shift the focus from the Social Democrats' policy to talking about the food giants. I am happy to talk about both inflation and food giants, but it is impossible to avoid that after my conversations with them, the entire picture changed. Now it is service prices that are driving inflation, not food prices. That does not mean, as several here among the Social Democrats have said, that prices are on their way down. Inflation will remain and be 1 or 2 percent, and that means that prices are increasing. But now it is not food prices that are driving it. That being said – it is very tough and very high prices for many families with children! We are therefore extending the housing allowance that we increased at the beginning of the year, because the consequences are very tough.

Mr. Speaker! I will continue to keep a watch over these issues - over inflation - but naturally also over how we shall strengthen the purchasing power of households. This is my point and what I was touching upon earlier. I do not despise people who live on benefits. I know many and have many in my vicinity who are having it extremely tough. What surprises me, however, is that the Social Democrats, who at one time were a workers' party and hailed work, today always put forward increased benefits before, for example, lowered taxes for completely ordinary people.

The fact is that food prices would have been higher - I am completely sure of that - if the reduction obligation had not been changed, if we had not had this electricity support and much else. One can discuss different types of measures, and everything is not perfect - it never is with any government. But I know that the restrained policy has had an effect and that it will have an effect for people.

My task moving forward and our task as a government will be to do what we can to strengthen households' purchasing power - to stand on the side of wage earners and support those who have it the toughest. Our safety nets are there for those who have it the toughest.

Another way to ensure that there is more money for this is what I spoke about earlier: to really ensure that we get at all the cheating and fraud that many of the criminals engage in. It will facilitate and provide opportunities to make Sweden richer as a country but also to make the Swedes richer.

(Applause)

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Jytte Guteland (S)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for Finance for the answer. We from the Social Democrats are also pleased to see a better development regarding inflation. But it is not enough to be happy. It is also about being proactive ahead of the coming year and the challenges that still remain for the Swedish people.

Just as this debate has been about, prices in the grocery stores are still high. Surveys still show that the Swedish people are shrinking back from buying goods that are vital for children and their future. It is about not wanting to buy fruit and vegetables because they think it is too expensive. It is about parents—one in ten—being worried that their children are not getting enough nutrition and that they are going hungry. These are, therefore, continued major challenges.

The year 2024 must mean a proactive government and a proactive budget that is fair, which distributes to the families who have it the toughest and which above all looks at our future, i.e., our children and our youth. How are they doing? I am sure that the Finance Minister can agree with that. I believe surely that the heart is full of the desire that the children should have it well. Then it is important that this is included when one designs the budget.

It is absolutely important that one has had conversations with the food giants. But obviously, the food giants have still profited during these years and continue to do so. Therefore, it is important to also hold onto that issue.

We Social Democrats do not give up. We want a just policy, and we use broad reforms. We want to be social engineers. Sometimes it is about tax cuts - we have been part of such; the Finance Minister knows that. But we have also stood up for that those who are most vulnerable should be able to get an opportunity for support if they need it.

I thank you for this debate.

(Applause)

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Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)

Mr. Speaker! I also want to thank the member for the debate. It is important and good to highlight how the consequences of inflation have hit and are hitting many people. It is also important to highlight different political alternatives.

I have spoken about what we did in last year's budget and what we are doing right now in this budget. We will also return in the spring budget with the extended housing allowance, which I mentioned, but also other things. Unfortunately, it is the case that many will have it tough even during 2024, but I know that what we have done with, for example, the fuel tax, the reduction obligation, lowered tax on labor, and much more helps and supports.

The Social Democrats have other proposals, and I respect that. But I will continue to be proactive when it comes to fighting inflation and supporting people in a responsible way. Fairness, absolutely – I see that we have more to do to make it fair in such a way that those who work and have small incomes shall be able to keep more of their wages.

(Applause)

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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