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News > Sweden

Swedish Households' Unpaid Debts Hit Record High

  • Swedish krona banknotes.

    Swedish krona banknotes. | Photo: Twitter/ @stockfigures24

Published 26 January 2023
Opinion

"Increased living expenses generally contribute to higher over-indebtedness," an analyst explained.

On Thursday, the Swedish Enforcement Authority acknowledged that the ongoing inflationary pressures and increasing interest rates pushed up the unpaid debts owed by households to record highs last year.

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At the end of 2022, the outstanding debts owed by individuals totaled 101 billion Swedish kronor (US$9.9 billion), the government agency in charge of debt collection said.

This was 7 billion kronor more than in 2021 and represented a 34 billion kronor increase over a decade.

"Increased living expenses generally contribute to higher over-indebtedness. Those who already are in a tough financial situation and have small margins become over-indebted more easily," Davor Vuleta, an analyst at the authority, said.

"A large part of the increase is due to debts constantly growing due to interest, but it's also due to us collecting more debts for higher amounts," Vuleta added.

Year-on-year inflation in Sweden was 12.3 percent in December. To combat inflation, the Swedish central bank (Riksbank) has since May 2022 implemented four policy rate hikes to currently 2.5 percent after more than seven years of zero and sub-zero policy rates.

In its latest Monetary Policy Report released in November, the Riksbank said that further rate hikes could be expected.

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