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. 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 Thale ...

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 ...

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 representa ...

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

s ( credit money) 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 Ec ...

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 i ...

. 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, PhD in economics.

Directors-general

*1945-1950 - Fredrik Emanuel Sandberg *1950-1961 - Sten Widlund *1961-1977 -

Karl Georg Ringström Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austrian ...

*1977-1987 -

Lars Kalderén Lars is a common male name in Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum" or "crowned with laurel". A homonymous Etruscan name was bor ...

*1988-1995 -

Staffan Crona Staffan is a Swedish form of Stephen, attested since 1330. It may refer to: *Staffan Anger (born 1943), Swedish politician of the Moderate Party * Staffan Appelros (born 1950), Swedish politician of the Moderate Party *Staffan Danielsson (born 194 ...

*1995-2004 -

Thomas Franzén Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

*2004-2013 - Bo Lundgren *2013–2022 -

Hans Lindblad Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...

*2022– - Karolina Ekholm

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