Gramegna on Monday reported that state finances are back in the black, with a surplus in the central government balance of €56m at the end of the first quarter of 2021.

He followed this up on 27 April by presenting Luxembourg’s stability and growth programme and its recovery and resilience plan, both documents EU member states are required to submit to the European Commission.

Gramegna said the grand duchy had resisted pandemic pressures well so far, saying the stability and growth programme (SGP) stood “under a sign of exiting the crisis.”

Luxembourg closed the year 2020 with a 1.3% drop of gross domestic product. The SGP for that year had expected a fall of 6%. But sound public finances allowed Luxembourg to put together a rescue package worth €11bn (18.6% of GDP) to help shore up the economy.

The public finance deficit reached €2.62 billion, compared to a €5bn deficit expected in the 2020 stability and growth plan. For this year, taking into account the favourable trend, the SGP calculations assume a negative general government balance of €1.359bn.

Public debt should remain under control, Gramegna said presenting the plans. It grew 2.8% last year to reach 24.9% of GDP because of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. The SGP predicts that public debt will peak at 28.4% in 2023, below a 30% limit agreed by the government parties and a 60% ceiling set by the European Commission.

Luxembourg’s recovery and resilience plan “perfectly reflects the European vision of a sustainable recovery focused on the dual green and digital transitions,” Gramegna told lawmakers on Tuesday.

The plan is based on three pillars--cohesion and social resilience, green transition, and digitalisation, innovation and governance.

Luxembourg stands to receive €93.5m out of the EU’s €750bn Next Generation EU budget. Together with €2.9bn in taxpayer-funded investments foreseen by the government, the money will finance 20 projects in these three areas.

These include the “Future Skills” and “Digital Skills” programmes, affordable housing projects, subsidies for electric vehicle charging stations, and the digitalisation of public services.

The stability and growth, and recovery and resilience plans will be submitted to the commission by 30 April.

This story was first published on Paperjam and has been translated and edited for Delano.