Sweden

Sweden’s central bank governor has warned that new crisis-busting tools policymakers are embracing around the world to counter asset bubbles and other financial dangers are susceptible to political inaction and turf wars, the Financial Times reported today. Stefan Ingves, governor of the Riksbank, said so-called macroprudential policies — such as capital requirements and leverage limits — had so far failed in Sweden where house prices and personal debt levels have soared to record levels.

Sweden’s central bank on Wednesday promised to expand its quantitative easing programme and hinted it could cut what is already the world’s lowest lending rate even further to support the country’s economic recovery and revive inflation, the Financial Times reported. The Riksbank pledged to buy between SKr40bn and SKr50bn ($4.8bn-$6bn) of government bonds, taking the total stock of Swedish sovereign debt the central bank holds to between SKr80bn and SKr90bn. Once the central bank completes the purchases, it will own up to 15 per cent of all Swedish government debt.

Swedish oil and gas firm PA Resources will write down the value of its assets by 2.1 billion Swedish crowns ($258.6 mln) due to the plunge in oil prices and may be forced to go into liquidation, the company said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. "The loss arising from the impairment charge will most likely result in the company's shareholders' equity being less than one-half of the registered share capital. As a consequence, the company's board of directors has resolved to prepare a balance sheet for liquidation purposes," PA said.

Cracks are beginning to appear in the vaunted Nordic model. The four main Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden – still grace the top of most global rankings for happiness, competitiveness, the best place to be a woman and even the best place to be born. That has won them a legion of admirers, from Bill Gates to Scottish nationalists and The Economist, the news magazine, who marvel at the Nordic region’s ability to sustain big welfare systems and competitive economies.

Sweden’s financial watchdog is proposing tighter rules for people taking out new mortgages as the country seeks to manage rising levels of household debt, The Wall Street Journal reported. Finansinspektionen, the Swedish financial supervisory authority also known as FI, said Tuesday it plans to make it mandatory for those taking out mortgages over 50% of the value of a property to pay the mortgage down over a period of time. Those whose mortgage is over 70% of the value of the property will be expected to pay the loan down by 2% a year until it falls to 70%, FI said.

Cash-strapped China's National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) said on Wednesday it would lay off up to 200 staff at its Saab car plant in Sweden as production is unlikely to resume anytime soon, Reuters reported. NEVS, which bought the bankrupt Swedish carmaker Saab in 2012, halted already-low output in May because of a shortage of money. In August, it obtained protection from creditors through a Swedish court while trying to secure funding.

A Swedish court on Thursday rejected an application from China's National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), which bought bankrupt car maker Saab in 2012, for protection against creditors while it concludes funding talks, Reuters reported. The court called the solutions NEVS had outlined to secure funding "vague and completely undocumented," casting further doubt over the long-term future of the company, which has not built any cars in recent months due to a shortage of money.

Sweden’s central bank sounded the alarm on the Nordic country’s huge household debt burden amid an acrimonious debate on whether it should instead be focusing more on fighting deflation. The Riksbank, the world’s oldest central bank, published a study on Wednesday that it claimed showed debt levels were higher than feared, with the average indebted Swede owing 296 per cent of their annual income while the average mortgage holder owed 370 per cent.

The Riksbank, the world’s oldest central bank, has become a sadist in its use of monetary policy, according to Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, Bloomberg News reported. He says the Stockholm-based central bank’s bias toward tight policy during the financial crisis was a “terrible mistake” that now risks creating a Japan-style deflationary spiral. The criticism has the potential to weaken the exchange rate as international investors “question the Swedish economic development,” according to SEB AB, the Nordic region’s biggest currency trader.

Three years ago Sweden was regarded as a role model in how to deal with a global crisis. The nation’s exports were hit hard by slumping world trade but snapped back; its well-regulated banks rode out the financial storm; its strong social insurance programmes supported consumer demand; and, unlike much of Europe, it still had its own currency, giving it much-needed flexibility. By mid-2010 output was surging, and unemployment was falling fast. Sweden, declared The Washington Post , was “the rock star of the recovery”. Then the sadomonetarists moved in.