Greenland budget deal removes childcare fees and protects pensioners’ extra income

Greenland’s 2027 budget agreement will end parental fees for childcare and let pensioners earn additional income without having their pensions reduced, DR reported.

The agreement was reached by Greenland’s three governing parties and opposition party Siumut. Finance Minister Aqqaluaq B. Egede of Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) presented it at a news conference on Monday.

“I consider it very important that we can stand together,” Egede said, according to Greenlandic broadcaster KNR.

The government will cover the cost of removing childcare fees, a measure Egede described as expensive but a significant result, according to the newspaper Sermitsiaq. The agreement also allows pensioners to have supplementary income without a pension cut.

Opposition party Naleraq is the only party in Greenland’s parliament, Inatsisartut, not to sign the agreement. Egede said it took part in negotiations until Monday morning but then announced it would not sign.

The agreement provides for investment of about 556 million kroner over the next four years. The largest allocation, 218 million kroner, is block grants to Greenland’s municipalities.

Greenland’s annual public budget is about eight billion kroner, around half of which comes from Denmark as a block grant. Economic growth was about 1 per cent in each of 2023, 2024 and 2025. Greenland’s Economic Council forecasts growth of 1.3 per cent in 2026 and 1.5 per cent in 2027.