Surplus for Swedish central government in February

Press release 7 March 2019

Swedish central government payments resulted in a surplus of SEK 41.1 billion in February. The Debt Office's forecast was a surplus of SEK 48.0 billion. The difference is mainly due to temporary higher lending to the Riksbank. At the same time, the primary balance was higher than calculated.

The primary balance was SEK 10.8 billion higher than forecasted. This is because tax income was approximately SEK 3 billion higher than estimated and disbursements from a number of agencies, such as Kammarkollegiet, Skolverket and Försäkringskassan were lower than calculated.

The Debt Office’s net lending to government agencies etc. was SEK 17.4 billion higher than calculated. This is mainly explained by higher lending to the Riksbank, since loans in foreign currency equivalent to SEK 18.7 billion maturing in March were refinanced already in February. When the original loan matures in March, lending to the Riksbank will decrease by the same amount.

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

For the twelve-month period up to the end of February 2019, central government payments resulted in a surplus of SEK 80.0 billion.

Central government debt amounted to SEK 1,224 billion at the end of February.

The outcome for March 2019 will be published on 5 April at 9.30 a.m.

Contact

Tord Arvidsson, Analyst +46 (0)8 613 47 53
Press Secretary, +46 (0)8 613 47 01

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 (February 2019).

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   Feb.Forecast   Feb.Dev.   Feb.Acc.    Dev²Outcome   12-month

Net borrowing requirement

-41 088

-47 961

6 873

6 873

-79 957

Primary balance³

-54 756

-44 006

-10 750

-10 750

-104 481

Net lending to agencies etc.4

14 346

-3 039

17 385

17 385

10 555

Interest payments on central government debt

-678

-916

238

238

13 969

 - Interest on loans in SEK

-758

-1 060

302

302

13 373

- Interest on loans in foreign currency

7

-46

53

53

-378

- Realised currency gains and losses

73

190

-117

-117

974

More data on the borrowing requirement and government debt.

Report Sweden's Central Government Debt Februari 2019

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