Swedish central government payments resulted in a surplus of SEK 8.7 billion in January. The Debt Office's forecast was a surplus of SEK 8.3 billion. A higher primary balance than expected was offset by higher net lending to government agencies and higher interest payment on the central government debt.

The primary balance, the difference between central government income and expenditure, was higher than forecasted. The higher primary balance was due to a higher inflow of supplementary tax payments than expected as well as a sale of spectrum licenses by the Post and Telecom Agency. The supplementary taxes contributed to a higher tax income of approximately SEK 3 billion while the sale of licenses contributed SEK 2.5 billion to the primary balance. The higher revenues were offset by higher disbursements by some government agencies such as the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, some universities and higher education as well as the Swedish National Agency for Education.

The Debt Office's net lending to government agencies etc. was SEK 0.7 billion higher than expected. This was mainly due to reduced deposits from, among others, the Nuclear Waste Fund and the Swedish Pensions Agency.

Interest payments on central government debt were SEK 0.4 billion higher than calculated.

For the twelve-month period up to the end of January 2019, central government payments resulted in a surplus of SEK 88.7 billion.

Central government debt amounted to SEK 1,205 billion at the end of January.

The outcome for February 2019 will be published on 7 March at 9.30 a.m.

Revised forecasts for 2019 and 2020 will be published on 20 February at 9:30 a.m.

Contact

Lina Majtorp, Economist +46 (0)8 613 46 76 Press Secretary, +46 (0)8 613 47 01

Central government net borrowing requirement 1 (SEK million)  
  Outcome January Forecast January Deviation January Acc.  Dev 2 Outcome 12-month
Net borrowing requirement -8 712 -8 332 -380 15 333 -88 720
Primary balance 3 -6 353 -4 946 -1 407 11 331 -101 543
Net lending to agencies etc. 4 -1 567 -2 230 663 3 468 -1 152
Interest payments on central government debt -792 -1 156 364 534 13 975
  - Interest on loans in SEK -825 -1 070 245 537 13 298
  - Interest on loans in foreign currency -41 -42 1 -16 -409
  - Realised currency gains and losses 74 -44 118 13 1 086
1 The net borrowing requirement corresponds to the budget balance with opposite sign.
2 Sum of monthly forecast deviations since last forecast (October 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.  
 

More data on the borrowing requirement and government debt:

https://www.riksgalden.se/en/For-investors/Bo...ment-debt/

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

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