Sweden Tells Refugees 'Stay in Germany' as Ikea Runs Out of Beds
Source: bloomberg.com
Customers shop for beds at an Ikea store in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
Europe’s refugee crisis is having such a major impact in Sweden that even Ikea is running out of beds.
The Swedish furniture giant says its shops in Sweden and Germany are running short on mattresses and beds amid increased demand due to an unprecedented inflow of asylum seekers in the two countries.
In Sweden, which along with Germany has been the most welcoming, the Migration agency had to let about 50 refugees sleep on the floor of its head office on Thursday night as it tries to find accommodation for the latest arrivals.
“There are some shortages of bunk beds, mattresses and duvets" in some stores in Germany and Sweden, Josefin Thorell, an Ikea spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed response when asked whether the company had been affected by the biggest influx of migrants since World War II.
"If the situation persists we expect that it will be difficult to keep up and maintain sufficient supply,” Thorell said.
Ikea has been supplying local authorities handling the refugee crisis.
So far, 120,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Sweden this year and as many as 190,000 are expected to head to the country of 10 million people.
Although Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson told reporters on Friday that the pressure on public finances "is not acute," the Swedish government says it is no longer able to offer housing to new arrivals.
“Those who come here may be met by the message that we can’t arrange housing for them,” Migration Minister Morgan Johansson told reporters. “Either you’ll have to arrange it yourself, or you have to go back to Germany or Denmark again.”
Source: bloomberg.com
