The primary surplus (all government payments except interest payments) was SEK 16.2 billion, which is 6.5 billion less than expected. The main reason is less supplementary tax payments. Tax payments in February are always hard to predict, since both payments of tax arrears and supplementary taxes fall due. The low outcome in February could be compensated by larger tax payments during the rest of the year. In spite of a large deviation from the forecast in February, the Debt Office's assessment is therefore still that the borrowing requirement for 2004 will be approximately SEK 68 billion. For further information on the annual forecast see Central Government Borrowing 2004:1, which is available at www.rgk.se.
The central government interest payments were SEK 0.9 billion less than projected.
For the twelve-month period ending February 29, the borrowing requirement amounted to SEK 61 billion. The central government debt amounted to SEK 1,258 billion at the end of February 2004.
The outcome of central government borrowing requirement for March will be published on April 7, 2004, at 9.30 a.m.
For additional information, please contact:
Lars Hörngren, Chief Economist,
tel. +46 8 613 47 36
