Swedish National Debt Office

The Swedish National Debt Office or Riksgäldskontoret was started in 1789, by the Riksdag of the Estates, in Sweden. The task of the Debt office was to finance the War[?] on Russia started by king Gustav III.

The method of raising funds was to issue promisory notes called Riksgälds denominated in Riksdaler which was the Swedish currency at the time. The reason why the funds couldn't be raised through the Riksbank was that its notes had to be backed by Silver (Commodity money) to two thirds, while no such restrictions applied for the promisory notes (Credit money) issued by the Debt office. This produced a heavy seigniorage induced inflation, where the exchange rate, for the promisory notes against Silver, was 1 to 4 in 1834.

In 1989, after two hundred years as an authority under the Riksdag, the Debt office was reconstituted as an authority under the Government. After 1989 it also assumed the role as the Government internal bank from the Riksbank.