Large budget surplus and lower debt for the full year 2016

Press release 10 January 2017

Swedish central government payments resulted in a surplus of SEK 85.3 billion in 2016. The Debt Office’s forecast from October was a surplus of SEK 79.7 billion. The difference is mainly explained by higher tax income.

The surplus of SEK 85.3 billion can be compared with a deficit of SEK 32.7 billion in 2015. The improvement between years is mainly explained by increased tax income due to a strong development in the economy. The surplus is also explained by households and companies making excess deposits in tax accounts, due to the tax account rate being relatively high when compared to other alternatives.

Central government debt amounted to SEK 1 347 billion at the end of December which was SEK 56 billion lower than in December 2015      .

Deficit for Swedish central government in December

Swedishcentral government payments resulted in a deficit of SEK 75.2 billion in December. The Debt Office’s forecast was a deficit of SEK 82.5 billion.

Payments from among other Sida, the National Agency for Education and Swedish Transport Administration were higher than expected, but at the same time tax income was approximately SEK 4 billion higher than expected. Taken together, the primary deficit was SEK 1 billion lower than calculated.

The Debt Office's net lending to government agencies was SEK 4.9 billion lower than forecast. The deviation is mainly due to higher deposits and lower lending from the Pension Authority.

Interest payments on central government debt were SEK 1.5 billion lower than forecast due to foreign exchange gains were SEK 1.1 billion higher than expected.

The outcome for January will be published on 7 February, at. 09:30 am.

Contact:

Tord Arvidsson, Senior Analyst, +46 (0)8 613 47 53
Robert Sennerdal, Press officer, +46 (0)8 613 46 94

Central government net borrowing requirement¹ (SEK million)
1 The net borrowing requirement corresponds to the budget balance with opposite sign.
2 Sum of monthly forecast deviations since last forecast (October 2016).
3 Net of the state's primary income and expenditure excluding net lending to agencies.    
4The outcome is preliminary and may be revised in connection with the Debt Office’s annual accounts.
 Outcome Dec.Forecast Dec.Deviation Dec.Acc.    Dev2Outcome 12-month
Net borrowing requirement  75 219 82 514 -7 295 -5 588 -85 304
Primary borrowing requirement excl. net lending3 41 362 42 312 -950 -3 886 -100 628
Net lending to agencies etc. 29 406 34 293 -4 886 -1 578 13 818
Interest payments on central government debt 4 451 5 910 -1 459 -124 1 506
- Interest on loans in SEK 6 580 6 985 -405 -293 3 428
- Interest on loans in foreign currency 22 -12 34 93 558
- Realised currency gains and losses -2 151 -1 063 -1 088 76 -2 480
 Please refer to the Debt Office’s annual report 2016 for the final annual outcome. 

Swedens Central Government Debt December 2016

More data on the borrowing requirement and government debt: