Swedish central government payments resulted in a surplus of SEK 61.8 billion in 2017. The Debt Office's forecast in October was a surplus of SEK 28.3 billion. The difference is mainly explained by higher tax income than calculated.
The Swedish central government showed a budget surplus of SEK 61.8 billion in 2017, compared with a surplus of SEK 85.3 billion in 2016. A strong economy led to continued high tax incomes in 2017. Among other things, rising employment and high housing investment contributed to the development. Declining social insurance expenditures and an otherwise moderate development of expenditures also contributed to the surplus. The surplus decreased in 2017 compared with 2016, partly due to the fact that tax incomes in 2016 were affected by excess deposits in tax accounts.
Central government debt amounted to SEK 1,328 billion at the end of December, which was SEK 19 billion lower than in December 2016.
Deficit for Swedish central government in December
Swedish central government payments resulted in a deficit of SEK 69.6 billion in December. The Debt Office's forecast was a deficit of SEK 92.3 billion.
Tax income was approximately SEK 18 billion higher than forecast. This was mainly due to higher payments of supplementary taxes. The delay of statistics for tax revenue is quite long, but the deviation is likely to be partly explained by a stronger development of tax base development than expected. At the same time, there are no such large differences in the taxes debited preliminarily. It is also likely that the payments of taxes have been affected more by the unusual interest rate level than estimated. In that case it is about shifting of cash flows over time and mainly to tax payments occurring earlier than before.
The Debt Office's net lending to government agencies was SEK 3.3 billion lower than forecast. This was primarily due to lower lending to the Swedish pension agency.
Interest payments on central government debt were SEK 0.4 billion lower than calculated.
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
Robert Sennerdal, Press Secretary, +46 (0)8 613 47 01
Central government net borrowing requirement1 (SEK million)
Outcome Dec.
Forecast Dec.
Deviation Dec.
Acc. Dev2
Outcome 12-month
Net borrowing requirement
69 581
92 251
-22 671
-33 463
-61 780
Primary borrowing requirement excl. net lending3
35 141
54 093
-18 952
-28 702
-69 186
Net lending to agencies etc.
28 049
31 396
-3 348
-3 401
-2 902
Interest payments on central government debt
6 391
6 762
-371
-1 359
10 308
- Interest on loans in SEK
7 967
7 372
595
109
13 158
- Interest on loans in foreign currency
14
26
-12
-548
-904
- Realised currency gains and losses
-1 589
-636
-953
-921
-1 947
| 1 The net borrowing requirement corresponds to the budget balance with opposite sign. | |||||
| 2 Sum of monthly forecast deviations since last forecast (October 2017). | |||||
| 3 Net of the state's primary income and expenditure excluding net lending to agencies. | |||||
| 4The 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 2017 for the final annual outcome. | |||||
More data on the borrowing requirement and government debt:
https://www.riksgalden.se/en/For-investors/Borrowing-and-the-government-debt/
The monthly outcome of the central government net borrowing requirement is included in the official statistics of Sweden.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Riksgälden via Globenewswire
