The general government finance surplus corresponded to 1.6 percent of GDP. Central government surplus amounted to SEK 82 billion, which was SEK 12 billion higher than the previous year. The other two subsectors, local government and social security funds, reported deficits in 2017. For local government, the deficit decreased compared with the previous year. In the same period, net lending/net borrowing changed from a surplus to a minor deficit for social security funds.

General government consolidated gross debt increased by SEK 12 billion between 2016 and 2017. During this period, GDP increased by SEK 193 billion. Therefore, the debt in relation to GDP decreased from 42.4 percent in 2016 to 40.8 percent in 2017.

Central government and social security funds debt decreased by SEK -9 billion and SEK -1 billion respectively, while local government debt increased by SEK 34 billion.

In the context of this publication, the debt has been updated for 2012 and onwards. The revisions are minor, such as revised recording of government investment grants from central to local government and updated data sources for 2017.

According to the EU convergence requirements, the government deficit must not be more than 3 percent and gross debt must not exceed 60 percent in relation to GDP, which means that Sweden has met the requirements.

The calculations for the Excessive Deficit Procedure are submitted by Statistics Sweden to Eurostat as required by the EU Stability and Growth Pact, under Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2009, as amended by Council Regulation (EU) No 679/2010 and Commission Regulation (EU) No 220/2014. The figures reported will be audited by Eurostat and may be revised during this process. In this event, revised estimates will be published on 22 October by both Statistics Sweden and Eurostat.

More information about the Excessive Deficit Procedure, as well as government finances in general, is available on Eurostat's website.

Comparison with ordinary financial accounts

Calculations of convergence requirements are somewhat different from the ordinary compilations in the financial accounts. For example, the gross debt is calculated at a nominal value, because this value must be paid on maturity. In the financial accounts valuation, gross debt is calculated at market value. The gross debt comprises only certain financial instruments, such as currency, deposits, debt securities and loans. The financial accounts also include equity, other accounts payable, financial derivatives and pensions in general government debt.

2019-03-29 at 09:30.