Denmark sees soaring deficit in 2012 budget

The Danish government said Wednesday it expected the public deficit to widen sharply next year, reflecting recent global economic turmoil, with 2011 growth to be slower than expected.
The finance ministry said Denmark's 2012 public deficit -- the shortfall in revenue compared with spending -- would widen to nearly 85 billion kroner (11.4 billion euros, $16.5 billion), or 4.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). That is almost five billion kroner more than the government's May estimate and much more than the 68-billion-kroner deficit, or 3.8 percent of GDP, expected this year.
"The world is somewhat different today than it was before the summer," Finance Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen told reporters, explaining the hike from the government's May forecast.
The Scandinavian country posted a deficit last year of just 2.8 percent of GDP and five years ago, before the global financial crisis kicked off, it posted a budget surplus of more than 80 billion kroner.