Swedish gov't surplus in May bigger than expected

While the European Commission frets about how to deal with expenditure by the Italian government, further north in Sweden, the country's Debt Office has recorded a central government payments surplus of SEK64.2bn for May alone - a third higher than previous estimates of SEK40.2bn.
The Debt Office stated that the difference was mainly due to the Riksbank, the central bank, repaying foreign currency loans previously borrowed from the Debt Office. Also, lending to government agencies was SEK19.4bn lower than forecast, mainly due to SEK19.9bn lower on-lending to the Riksbank.
On the so-called primary balance, the difference between central government income and expenditure was SEK4.9bn higher than forecast, mainly due to some SEK4bn higher than expected tax revenue.
Over the 12 months to the end of May 2019, the government recorded a payments surplus of SEK93.8bn. Total central government debt at the end of the month was SEK1.078trn.
Central government net borrowing requirement1 (SEK million) |
|
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|
Outcome May |
Forecast May |
Deviation May |
Acc. Dev2 |
Outcome 12-month |
Net borrowing requirement |
-64 217 |
-40 185 |
-24 032 |
-32 392 |
-93 760 |
Primary balance3 |
-47 080 |
-42 191 |
-4 890 |
-10 534 |
-89 779 |
Net lending to agencies etc.4 |
-21 259 |
-1 853 |
-19 406 |
-23 317 |
-22 769 |
Interest payments on central government debt |
4 123 |
3 859 |
264 |
1 459 |
18 788 |
- Interest on loans in SEK |
3 623 |
906 |
2 717 |
-415 |
15 038 |
- Interest on loans in foreign currency |
92 |
-66 |
158 |
-6 |
-449 |
- Realised currency gains and losses |
408 |
3 019 |
-2 611 |
1 880 |
4 198 |
1The net borrowing requirement corresponds to the budget balance with opposite sign. |