The government financed coronavirus support schemes by issuing securities. In the first and second quarter, mainly short-term securities were issued, while in the third quarter, mainly bonds were issued, that is, securities with longer maturities. One-third of the outstanding securities issued by the government, corresponding to SEK 426 billion, was held by the Riksbank at the end of the third quarter. Insurance companies and pension institutions together held just over one-fifth. This is on a par with foreign investors’ equity, while one-tenth was held by general government.

Market-valued central government debt amounted to SEK 2 190 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2020, which is an increase of SEK 201 billion since the end of 2019.

Non-financial corporations reverted to issuing securities

As early as March, in connection with the first coronavirus restrictions, the Riksbank offered loans up to SEK 500 billion in total to non-financial companies, through on-lending from banks and other credit market institutions. In the first quarter, non-financial companies borrowed SEK 87 billion, mainly in the form of short-term loans, followed by SEK 48 billion in the second quarter. Non-financial companies’ borrowing via issued securities decreased by SEK 58 billion in the same period. In the third quarter, the roles were reversed, as loans in banks decreased by SEK 45 billion, while borrowing via securities increased by SEK 18 billion.

High savings among households persisted

Households’ financial savings continued to be relatively high and amounted to SEK 36 billion in the third quarter. In the past 20 years, savings have only been higher in a single third quarter, in 2018.

Savings consisted mostly of savings in bank accounts and purchases of equity funds, which amounted to SEK 17 billion and SEK 15 billion respectively. Households invested in unlisted shares, while listed and foreign shares noted net sales.

Households’ financial savings and the strong development on the stock market in the second and third quarter of 2020 led to a recovery from the sharp decline in households’ financial net wealth in the first quarter. Households’ financial net wealth amounted to SEK 11 821 billion at the end of the third quarter, which is an increase of almost SEK 700 billion in three quarters.

The annual growth rate for households’ loan stock continued to increase somewhat and was 5.2 percent at the end of the third quarter.

Revisions

In connection with the calculation of the third quarter of 2020, annual and quarterly statistics were revised from the first quarter of 2017 up to and including the second quarter of 2020. Transactions in funds were revised from 2017 for all sectors due to new calculations of retained dividends. The foreign owners sector was revised with new information from the Balance of Payments from the first quarter of 2017 onwards. This mainly involves major revisions of foreign investment in Swedish unlisted shares and Swedish investment in foreign unlisted shares. A number of revisions were also made with regard to general government. Central government has revised tax accrual from the first quarter of 2019 onwards. Local government has altered reporting of flows between other mortgage institutions and general government for 2019. Local government has also revised financial derivatives for 2019 and pension rights from 2019 onwards.