Amortisation requirements – a step towards a more sustainable debt situation

Date 11/11/2014

Household debt is high and continuing to rise

At present, Swedish household sector debt is at unsustainable levels and needs to be slowed down. High indebtedness and rising housing prices entail large risks for both the development of the real economy and financial stability.

There are several possible measures for dealing with these problems, and amortisation is one of the most important. However, there are many different ways of formulating an amortisation requirement and various considerations need to be made. Some alternatives regarding amortisation requirements are discussed in the report.

Several measures are needed to dampen household debt

Finansinspektionen has also presented measures to manage the problem of household indebtedness. The Riksbank welcomes these proposals and sees them as an important step in the right direction. But as they are not sufficient to stop the development in debt, they need to be supplement with further measures.

The Riksbank's work on the report has been managed by the Head of the Financial Stability Department, Kasper Roszbach. Employees of both the Monetary Policy Department and the Financial Stability Department have taken part. The Executive Board of the Riksbank will develop its stance on these issues at a later date.

The Financial Stability Council consists of the Minister for Financial Markets, the Director General of Finansinspektionen, the Director General of the Swedish National Debt Office and the Governor of the Riksbank.