Agency Name: | Ministry of Finance Danish: Finansministeriet |
Type: | Ministerial Department |
Picture Caption: | Headquarters, Slotsholmsgade, Copenhagen |
Formed: | 1848 |
Headquarters: | Christiansborg Slotsplads 1 Slotsholmen, Copenhagen |
Minister1 Name: | Nicolai Wammen |
Minister1 Pfo: | Minister of Finances |
Chief1 Name: | Martin Præstegaard |
Chief1 Position: | Permanent Secretary |
Website: | fm.dk |
The Ministry of Finance of Denmark is a ministry in the Government of Denmark. Among other things, it is in charge of the government budget (subject to approval by the Danish parliament, Folketinget), paying government employees and improving efficiency in government administration. The current Finance Minister of Denmark is Nicolai Wammen.
In 1848 King Frederik VII converted the nation's government to a constitutional monarchy, and its old administrative system was converted into a ministerial system. As a result, the Ministry of Finance was established on 24 November 1848. At the time, it was the largest of the government's ministries. The new ministry was immediately tasked with creating the first annual state budget proposal to be voted on by the Rigsdagen. The project was overseen by Minister Wilhelm Sponneck, who was 33 years-old at the time he was appointed.[1]
As the amount of money going into the state budget has increased, the ministry has expanded to manage it. In 1968, the Ministry of Finance was split into the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of State payroll and pension services. The latter was repealed on 11 October 1971, and the area was transferred to the newly created Budget Ministry, which from 1973 was again placed under the Ministry of Finance.
The ministry is headed by the Finance Minister of Denmark (Danish: Finansministeren), a member of the Cabinet. As head of the ministry, the minister has responsibility for the ministry's tasks of administering the state finances via the fiscal policy, and making economic predictions and recommendations.[2] The current Finance Minister is Nicolai Wammen, appointed by Mette Frederiksen on 27 June 2019.[3]