Surplus for Swedish central government in May

Press release 8 June 2018

Swedish central government payments resulted in a surplus of SEK 50.6 billion in May. The Debt Office’s forecast was a surplus of SEK 47.2 billion.

The central government's primary balance was SEK 6.8 billion higher than forecast. This is mainly due to higher dividends on state owned shares from, among others, LKAB. Also the dividend from the Riksbank was carried out in May instead of April. Tax income was approximately SEK 1 billion lower than forecast.

The Debt Office’s net lending to government agencies etc. was SEK 3.2 billion higher than calculated. This is mainly due to higher lending to the Riksbank, which is an effect of a weaker krona than assumed in February. This means that the foreign currency loans that the Riksbank refinances in the Debt Office get a higher value in SEK.

Interest payments on central government debt were SEK 0.2 billion higher than forecast.

For the twelve-month period up to the end of May 2018, central government payments resulted in a surplus of SEK 88.1 billion.

Central government debt amounted to SEK 1,231 billion at the end of May.

The outcome for June will be published on 6 July at 9.30 a.m.

Contact

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

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 latest forecast (February 2018).
3 Net of the state's primary expenditure and income.
4 The net of government agencies etc. deposits and loans in the state’s internal bank. The net lending includes both current government operations and temporary occurrences which can be decided on short notice. The net lending affects the net borrowing requirement and central government debt, but are not covered by the Central government expenditure ceiling.
 Outcome MayForecast MayDev. MayAcc.    Dev.2Outcome 12-month
Net borrowing requirement  -50 624 -47 221 -3 403 -1 096 -88 115
Primary balance3 -47 920 -41 130 -6 790 -1 296 -91 733
Net lending to agencies etc.3 -3 835 -7 070 3 235 670 -6 058
Interest payments on central government debt 1 131 980 151 -469 9 677
  - Interest on loans in SEK 937 946 -9 -170 12 146
  - Interest on loans in foreign currency 161 -74 235 22 -966
  - Realised currency gains and losses 33 108 -75 -321 -1 504

More data on the borrowing requirement and government debt

Sweden's Central Government Debt May 2018

The monthly outcome of the central government net borrowing requirement is included in the official statistics of Sweden.