Swedish central government debt continued to decrease in 2023

News 16 February 2024

Sweden’s central government finances remained unexpectedly strong in 2023, and the debt at year-end appears to have been the lowest since the mid-1960s. With a third consecutive budget surplus, the Debt Office’s borrowing for the year was solely for replacing maturing loans.

This is presented in the report Central Government Debt Management – Basis for Evaluation 2023, which the Swedish National Debt Office is submitting to the Government today. The yearly report describes how the Debt Office conducted borrowing and debt management in the previous year, on the basis of the Government’s guidelines and the objective of minimising the long-term cost of the debt while taking account of the risk.

Year in brief

• The central government budget showed a surplus for the third year in a row, and central government debt shrunk to 16 per cent of GDP according to preliminary figures.
• Given the budget surplus, the Debt Office’s borrowing over the year was exclusively to refinance loans that matured.
• The total borrowing requirement in 2023 went up from 2022, and the Debt Office funded the increase with short-term borrowing.
• Starting in August, the Debt Office also increased the auction volume of government bonds, but this was to meet coming borrowing needs.
• All auctions of government bonds were oversubscribed by a good margin, even though the Riksbank also started to sell government bonds. 
• Market participants experienced some improvement in liquidity in the secondary market for government bonds.
• Market participants’ confidence in the Debt Office remained high. Market maintenance and communication were considered the primary strengths.
• The duration of the central government debt was within the target range of 3.5 to 6 years, and the Debt Office reduced the debt’s foreign currency exposure in accordance with the Government’s guidelines.
• The cost of the central government debt in relation to its size was 2.5 per cent, which is higher than average for the previous five years but lower than in 2022.

Read the report in its entirety (in Swedish):

Central Government Debt Management – Basis for Evaluation 2023

Read more about the annual survey of market confidence for the Debt Office and the assessment of market liquidity (in Swedish):

Results of the annual market survey