Central government surplus of SEK 112 billion in 2019

Swedish central government payments, as well as the central government budget balance, resulted in a surplus of SEK 112 billion for 2019. The Debt Office's forecast from October was a surplus of SEK 113 billion.

The relatively large surplus is partly explained by the Riksbank’s repayments of loans of equivalent to SEK 69 billion in foreign currency to the Debt Office. The economic development in 2019 was characterized by weaker growth. This contributed to tax income from, for example, wages and consumption growing more slowly than in previous years. The Debt Office estimates that capital investments in tax accounts decreased slightly during the year, while at the same time contributing to greater variations in central government payments.

Overall, government expenditure increased moderately compared to 2018. Labour market and migration expenditures decreased the most, while government grants to local governments increased the most.

Central government debt amounted to SEK 1,113 billion at the end of December, which was SEK 149 billion lower than in December 2018.

Deficit for central government in December

Swedish central government payments resulted in a deficit of SEK 98.4 billion in December. The Debt Office's forecast was a deficit of SEK 87.2 billion. This was mainly due to tax income being approximately SEK 15 billion lower than estimated, which was caused by lower supplementary tax payments and higher payments from tax accounts than expected. In total during the period October to December, tax income were approximately SEK 13 billion lower than forecast. This was mainly due to higher payments from tax accounts.

The Debt Office’s net lending to government agencies etc. was SEK 0.2 billion lower than forecasted.

Interest payments on central government debt were SEK 1.3 billion higher than forecasted.

The outcome for January will be published on 7 February at 9.30 a.m.

Contact

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

Budget balance and central government net borrowing requirement1 (SEK million)
	Outcome Dec.	Forecast Dec.	Deviation Dec.	Acc.  Dev2	Outcome 12-month
Budget balance	-98 387	-87 155	-11 232	-1 236	111 946
Net borrowing requirement 1	98 387	87 155	11 232	1 236	-111 946
Primary balance3	51 267	41 159	10 107	4 888	-65 383
Net lending to agencies etc.4	39 865	40 071	-206	-4 310	-68 815
Interest payments on central government debt	7 255	5 924	1 331	658	22 252
- Interest on loans in SEK	6 801	6 278	523	-499	16 794
- Interest on loans in foreign currency	-85	-119	34	419	-219
- Realised currency gains and losses	539	-235	774	737	5 677
1 The net borrowing requirement corresponds to the budget balance with opposite sign.
2 Sum of monthly forecast deviations since last forecast (October 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. 5The outcome is preliminary and may be revised in connection with the Debt Office’s annual accounts. Please refer to the Debt Office’s annual report 2020 for the final annual outcome.

More data on the borrowing requirement and government debt:

https://www.riksgalden.se/en/statistics/statistics-on-central-government-borrowing/

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

Attachment

• Report Central Government Debt December 2019

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