Denmark has announced new regulations for foreign workers applying for work and residence permits, set to take effect from September 2024.

These changes, as relayed by TravelBiz, are ‘designed to align salary declarations with local Danish standards and establish fair wages for international employees.’

Meaning that salaries offered to foreign workers should match what is typical for similar jobs in Denmark.

By aligning salary declarations with local standards, the goal is to ensure that international employees receive fair compensation, reflecting the wages paid to local workers in comparable positions.

The updates, as indicated, will impact the application process and eligibility criteria for work permits in the country.

Higher Salary Requirement Starting October 2024 

As stated, starting October 1st, 2024, Denmark will raise the salary requirements for most foreign workers.

Applicants for work permits, according to reports, must earn at least 10% more than the current salary threshold to qualify. This means that come October, Denmark will increase the minimum salary that foreign workers must earn to be eligible for work permits.

Specifically, applicants will need to earn at least 10% more than the existing salary level. This change aims to ensure that foreign workers receive compensation that is more aligned with local wage standards.

Effects on Work Permit Applications 

The Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI), has clarified that the new salary threshold will be used to evaluate wages offered to foreign workers.

Reports confirm that applications submitted after September 30th, 2024, will be assessed using second quarter 2024 statistics.

Employers must provide a detailed explanation if a foreign worker’s salary does not meet the Danish standards. This requirement, as stated, aims to uphold fair employment practices across the board.

Schemes Affected by the New Salary Requirement 

TravelBiz provides that the updated salary threshold will apply to several work and residence permit schemes, including:

• Supplementary Pay Limit Scheme
• Positive List for Skilled Work
• Pay Limit Scheme
• Positive List for People with Higher Education
• Special Individual Qualifications Scheme
• Researcher’s Scheme
• Fast Track Scheme
• Herdsmen and Farm Managers Scheme
• Internship Scheme

These changes impact both new applications and extensions for existing permits.

Doyin Okupe, a former presidential aide, has opposed Aliko Dangote’s call for the complete removal of petrol subsidy.

In a Bloomberg interview on Monday, Dangote, founder of Dangote Petrochemical Refinery, asked the federal government to end petrol subsidy.

“I think it is the right time to take away the subsidy because all countries have gotten rid of it,” Dangote said.

But speaking to NAN on Tuesday, Okupe said removing petrol subsidy could lead to an abrupt hike in the cost of the product.

“With utmost respect, I disagree with Aliko Dangote on his suggestion that the government should completely end the subsidy now,” Okupe said.

“Petrol is the economic oxygen of Nigerians, whether rich or poor. This is not the situation in other countries of the world.”

He proposed selling crude oil to local refineries at half the international price, which he believes could bring down petrol costs to between ₦500 and ₦600 per litre.

Okupe argued that local production would ease foreign exchange pressure and benefit Nigerians, who heavily rely on petrol.

“For instance, the price of Nigerian crude per barrel is $77, we can decide to sell to Dangote refinery at $35 or $37 per barrel,” Okupe said.

“After making adjustments for processing fees and profit margins, the pump price of petrol can actually come down to ₦500 or ₦600 per litre. This will definitely bring major relief, comfort, and succour to the masses.”

Okupe also highlighted the advantage of using crude oil allocated for local consumption, which is outside the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota.

He stressed that this allocation, being a domestic matter, would allow for internal adjustments to benefit Nigerians directly.

“We can use the opportunities that these local refineries provide, ensuring adequate fuel supply through the daily crude oil allocated for local consumption,” he said.

“This will give us the flexibility to manage fuel prices domestically without the pressure of international oil market dynamics.”

Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the multiple interest rate hikes have restored confidence in the naira.

According to Cardoso, the consecutive interest rate hikes have encouraged people to see the currency differently.

The CBN governor spoke at a press conference on Tuesday after the monetary policy committee’s (MPC) 297th meeting in Abuja.

Since the resumption of the MPC meeting this year, the committee has increased the monetary policy rate (MPR), which benchmarks the interest rates, from 22.75 percent in February to 27.25 percent in September.

Cardoso said the monetary tightening has also helped to moderate inflation.

“There was a situation where exchange rate was really running at an incredible pace and people were beginning to lose confidence in the currency,” he said.

“We believe that these multiple hikes have helped for people to now begin to take a different look at their currency, and there is a greater incentive to hold naira as opposed to a situation that we had before where this was not the case.”

However, on June 12, the World Bank warned that the multiple interest rate hikes may not rein inflation and the failure of the monetary tightening poses a risk to economic growth.

Also, the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) on Tuesday said the latest hike in interest rate by the CBN is detrimental to investment and economic growth.

Speaking further, Cardoso said the CBN has worked to make the foreign exchange market more flexible and transparent by clearing the backlog of $7 billion and improving transparency in its operations.

He said it has rebuilt confidence in Nigeria’s financial system.

On February 5, Cardoso said he inherited a $7 billion foreign exchange (FX) backlog when he became the head of the apex bank in September 2023, however, it has dropped to $2.2 billion.

A month later, the CBN announced that it had successfully settled all valid outstanding FX obligations.

‘MONEY SUPPLY INCREASED BY N35TRN WITHIN 8 YEARS’

Cardoso said money supply increased by N35 trillion within eight years due to ways and means advances.

The CBN governor said between 2015 and 2023, the country’s money supply rose from N19 trillion to N54 trillion.

He said the increase was driven majorly by the printing of money through the ways and means mechanism, which led to an alarming rate of liquidity into the economy.

“We came into a very loose money supply situation. Between 2015 and 2023, the past eight years witnessed an incredible amount of pumping of liquidity into the system,” Cardoso said.

“In 2015, money supply was about N19 trillion and in 2023, it was N54 trillion. That is a huge increase, a very, very huge increase, and a substantial amount of that was through ways and means.

“Essentially printing of money resulted in a huge amount of money chasing because this is the implication. Chasing the same amount of goods, a relatively small amount of goods growing at 1.2 percent during that time and money supply was growing at 12.6 percent. You can see the inherent distortion there.”

The CBN governor said the situation worsened in 2015, when global oil prices collapsed, aggravating Nigeria’s economic challenges, given its heavy dependence on oil.

He said as a result of the collapse in oil prices, there was a decline in available FX, prompting authorities to fix exchange rates, which subsequently led to multiple exchange rates and opportunities for arbitrage.

“In other words, you had a situation where the response to excess money supply, little foreign exchange available was to fix exchange rates which now resulted in multiple exchange rates and arbitrage opportunities between one and the other and of course, this in itself, resulted in a backlog of foreign exchange, because this is where all these things have come from,” he said.

“Real sector at the time were obviously unable to access foreign exchange and things really got difficult and inflation continued to spike.”

Cardoso said upon assuming office, the CBN initiated a series of reforms to address the distortions.

One key reform, according to the CBN governor, was the attempt to harmonise the multiple exchange rates.

He said it has yielded positive results.

“Including the fact that you no longer have these multiple windows and including the fact that exchange rate is a lot more flexible and people are more able to transact their businesses through willing buyer, willing seller, as opposed to a situation where multiple exchange rates discourages or does not enable that to happen,” he added.

On January 29, CBN said it had started implementing a comprehensive strategy to improve liquidity in the Nigerian FX markets in the short, medium, and long term.

The apex bank said the FX reforms were designed to streamline and harmonise multiple exchange rates, promote transparency, and lessen the likelihood of arbitrage opportunities.