The Swedish National Debt Office ( sv, Riksgäldskontoret or shortly ''Riksgälden'') was founded by

Gustav III Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...

at the

Riksdag of the Estates Riksdag of the Estates ( sv, Riksens ständer; informally sv, Ståndsriksdagen) was the name used for the Estates of Sweden when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in 1866, the institution was the highest authority in Sweden next to t ...

in 1789, through the

Act of union and security The Union and Security Act ( sv, Förenings- och säkerhetsakten, fi, Yhdistys- ja vakuuskirja), alternatively Act of Union and Security, was proposed by king Gustav III of Sweden to the assembled Estates of the Realm during the Riksdag_of_the_Est ...

. It is a Swedish

Government agency A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administrati ...

. The first task of the Debt Office was to finance the ongoing War against Russia. The method of raising funds was to issue

promissory note A promissory note, sometimes referred to as a note payable, is a legal instrument (more particularly, a financing instrument and a debt instrument), in which one party (the ''maker'' or ''issuer'') promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of ...

s called ''Riksgälds'' denominated in

Riksdaler The svenska riksdaler () was the name of a Swedish coin first minted in 1604. Between 1777 and 1873, it was the currency of Sweden. The daler, like the dollar,''National Geographic''. June 2002. p. 1. ''Ask Us''. was named after the German Thaler. ...

which was the Swedish

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...

at the time. The reason why the funds could not be raised through the

Riksbank Sveriges Riksbank, or simply the ''Riksbank'', is the central bank of Sweden. It is the world's oldest central bank and the fourth oldest bank in operation. Etymology The first part of the word ''riksbank'', ''riks'', stems from the Swedish ...

was that its notes had to be backed by silver (

commodity money Commodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity of which it is made. Commodity money consists of objects having value or use in themselves (intrinsic value) as well as their value in buying goods. This is in contrast to representati ...

) to two thirds, whereas no such restrictions applied for the

s (

credit money Credit theories of money, also called debt theories of money, are monetary economic theories concerning the relationship between credit and money. Proponents of these theories, such as Alfred Mitchell-Innes, sometimes emphasize that money and cr ...

) issued by the Debt office. This produced a heavy

seigniorage Seigniorage , also spelled seignorage or seigneurage (from the Old French ''seigneuriage'', "right of the lord (''seigneur'') to mint money"), is the difference between the value of money and the cost to produce and distribute it. The term can be ...

-induced inflation, where the exchange rate for the promissory notes against silver was 1 to 4 in 1834. In 1989, after two hundred years as one of the few state agencies that reported directly to the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

, the Debt office was reconstituted and is now reporting to the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Eco ...

and the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

. After 1989 it also assumed the role as the government's internal bank from the Riksbank. Since January 1, 2008 the Debt office handles the Swedish

deposit insurance Deposit insurance or deposit protection is a measure implemented in many countries to protect bank depositors, in full or in part, from losses caused by a bank's inability to pay its debts when due. Deposit insurance systems are one component of ...

, which 1996-2007 was handled by a separate governmental agency. Since 2022 the Swedish National Debt Office is headed by Director General

Karolina Ekholm Karolina Ekholm (18 October 1964, Täby) is a Swedish economist and public official. Education and research Ekholm, obtained a PhD in 1995 from the Department of Economics at Lund University. As a researcher she has focused mainly on the effects o ...

, PhD in economics.

Directors-general

*1945-1950 - Fredrik Emanuel Sandberg *1950-1961 - Sten Widlund *1961-1977 - Karl Georg Ringström *1977-1987 - Lars Kalderén *1988-1995 - Staffan Crona *1995-2004 - Thomas Franzén *2004-2013 -

Bo Lundgren Bo Axel Magnus Lundgren (born 11 July 1947) is a Swedish politician. He was the leader of the Moderate Party from 1999 to 2003.Hans Lindblad *2022– -

External links

Webpage of the Swedish National Debt Office
{{authority control Economy of Sweden Debt Office Public finance of Sweden

Directors-general

See also

External links