Borrowing policy

The Debt Office adheres to a borrowing policy, for example regarding which types of debt instruments are used and how priorities are made between the instruments and between maturities.

Nominal government bonds – the most important source of funding

Nominal government bonds are prioritised over other debt instruments, and the Debt Office issues them regularly according to an established auction plan. By selling smaller volumes on numerous occasions, investors are continually offered access to government bonds via the primary market.

The strategy to minimise borrowing costs over the long term is to be predictable and build a sufficient volume in each bond to ensure good liquidity. The Debt Office also strives to maintain even redemptions, in terms of both size and time.

Inflation-linked bonds as a complement

By issuing inflation-linked bonds, the Debt Office can attract investors that wish to avoid the risk of having the value of their bonds depleted by inflation. The proportion of inflation-linked debt should be sufficient to enable liquid trading of inflation-linked bonds, but not so great that it displaces borrowing in nominal government bonds, thus deteriorating liquidity in that market.

For inflation-linked bonds as well, the Debt Office holds auctions regularly and strives to maintain even redemptions.

Treasury bills are used to compensate for fluctuations

Treasury bills enable the Debt Office to conduct short-term borrowing in the krona market. Treasury bills are regularly issued via auctions and can also be sold within the liquidity management operations. In the borrowing plan, treasury bills are used primarily to compensate for fluctuations in the borrowing requirement, so that we can maintain a stable supply of nominal government bonds.

Every three months, the Debt Office issues a new 12-month bill that matures on an IMM date (third Wednesday in March, June, September and December). In the other months, a new three-month bill is introduced. This means that there are always at least six outstanding maturities of up to 12 months.

Foreign currency bonds enable good borrowing preparedness

On the international capital market, the Debt Office can borrow large amounts in a short period of time. There is therefore also cause to issue foreign currency bonds when the borrowing requirement is low, as this keeps us prepared to borrow larger amounts if necessary.

Because the Debt Office is a small participant in the international capital market, unlike on the Swedish market, there are greater possibilities of being flexible and adapting borrowing to current market conditions.