Deficit for Swedish central government in January 2020

Press release 7 February 2020

Swedish central government payments resulted in a deficit of SEK 3.0 billion in January. The Debt Office's forecast was a deficit of SEK 2.3 billion. A lower primary balance than expected was offset by lower net lending to government agencies.

The primary balance, the difference between central government income and expenditure, was 3.9 billion lower than expected. Tax income was approximately SEK 1 billion lower than forecasted. In addition, the disbursements by some government agencies such as the Swedish International Cooperation Agency and the Swedish Armed Forces were slightly higher than expected in January.

The Debt Office’s net lending to government agencies etc. was SEK 3.2 billion lower than expected. This was mainly due to lower lending to the Swedish Board of Student Finance and higher deposits, from among others, the Swedish Pensions Agency.

Interest payments on central government debt were in line with the forecast.

For the twelve-month period up to the end of January 2020, central government payments resulted in a surplus of SEK 100.2 billion.

Central government debt amounted to SEK 1,092 billion at the end of January.

The outcome for February 2020 will be published on 6 March at 9.30 a.m.

Revised forecasts for 2020 and 2021 will be published on 18 February at 9:30 a.m.

Contact

Sofia Nilsson, Economist +46 (0)8 613 47 34

Press Secretary, +46 (0)8 613 47 01

Budget balance and 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 (Oct 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   Jan.Forecast Jan.Deviation Jan.Acc.    Dev2Outcome 12-month
Budget balance -3 022 -2 275 -748 -1 984 100 211
Net borrowing   requirement  3 022 2 275 748 1 984 -100 211
Primary balance3 6 861 2 915 3 947 8 835 -52 169
Net lending to agencies etc.4 -2 731 449 -3 180 -7 490 -69 980
Interest payments on central government debt -1 108 -1 089 -19 639 21 937
  - Interest on loans in SEK -1 083 -1 263 180 -319 16 536
  - Interest on loans in foreign currency -124 -30 -94 325 -302
  - Realised currency gains and losses 100 204 -104 633 5 702

More data on the borrowing requirement and government debt

Report: Sweden's central government debt January 2020

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