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2023-10-25 14:20:51

A tale of two central banks

The Swedish central bank (the Riksbank) must ask parliment for funding if their balance sheet goes more than 40B kronor negative. They are currently 18B kronor in the hole. This recent Swedish law related to funding the Riksbank was alledgedly passed to ensure the central bank's independence...

https://www.thelocal.se/20231025/swedish-central-bank-seeks-billions-to-restore-capital-base

In the US the Fed is allowed to count their negative balance as an *asset* because they can use it to offset profits they would theoretically be required to pay the US Treasury in the future. ht

https://www.lynalden.com/broke-federal-reserve/

In March the tax payers in Sweden will get a request for the equivalent of $7B to fund the Riksbank. This may be a a hard sell when inflation is running hot, interest rates are high, home prices are down and the economy is generally faultering. Keep in mind also that the government will need to issue bonds to pay to recapitalize the Riksbank at a time when the Swedish Krona is at an all time low. Coincidentally, a few weeks ago the Riksbank pledge to spend up to $8B USD in reserves to prop up the Krona by March.

https://www.riksbank.se/en-gb/markets/the-gold-and-foreign-currency-reserve/currency-hedging--sales-of-dollars-and-euros/

These two programs taken together do not install a feeling of bank independence to my mind. Has anyone seen this discussed elsewhere? I would love to read more analysis about how these moves by the Riksbank will interact. Any thoughts on this ?
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