Swedish central government payments resulted in a deficit of SEK 96.6 billion in December. The Debt Office's forecast was a deficit of SEK 82.8 billion. The difference of SEK 13.8 billion is largely due to lower tax income, higher net lending to agencies and higher interest payments on central government debt.

Tax income was SEK 7.7 billion lower than forecast in December. This is mainly due to higher tax reimbursements and lower preliminary corporate tax payments.

The Debt Office's net lending to government agencies was SEK 3.8 billion higher than forecast. This is mainly explained by lower deposits from the Nuclear Waste Fund.

Interest payments on central government debt amounted to SEK 9.6 billion, which was nearly SEK 1 billion higher than estimated.

Budget deficit for the full year 2013

For the full year 2013 the deficit was SEK 131.5 billion[1]:
#ftn1, which can be compared with the Debt Office's forecast of SEK 126.3 billion.

The outcome for 2013 was thus essentially in line with our forecast from October. The somewhat higher figure was mainly due to lower tax income. The outcome was also broadly in line with the latest forecasts from NIER, ESV and the government.

The deficit for the full year is mainly due to on-lending to the Riksbank amounting to SEK 103.6 billion.

Central government debt amounted to SEK 1,277 billion at the end of 2013. This can be compared to SEK 1,146 billion one year earlier.

The outcome for January will be published on 7 February 2014, at 9:30 am.

Further information can be obtained from:
Håkan Carlsson, +46 8 613 47 33

Central Government Net Borrowing
Requirement (SEK million)		 December
2012		 December
2013		 12-month
Net borrowing requirement 79 366 96 560 131 494
  Primary borrowing requirement 71 960 86 951 115 063
  Interest payments 7 406 9 609 16 432
  - Interest on loans in SEK 8 150 9 607 25 718
  - Interest on loans in foreign currency 32 240 1 059
  - Realised currency gains and losses -776 -238 -10 345

[1]:
#body_ftn1 The 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 2013 for the final annual outcome.

Sweden's Central Government Debt December 2013:
http://hugin.info/133745/R/1753786/591628.pdf


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Source: Riksgälden via Globenewswire
HUG#1753786