Sweden has paid off its government debt at a furious pace. For example, the government paid down government debt by SEK 30 billion in 2017. That is, more than what the Minister of Finance's so-called reform space is this year. Government debt is among the lower in the EU and as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) more than halved since 1995. Something the government is happy to boast about.

Current Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson was cautious about financial promises on Thursday.

Maybe time to borrow more again

At the same time, more and more voices are also being raised internationally, so it may be time to start borrowing more, and especially now that the cyclical arrows are pointing downwards. The central banks cannot lower their already very low interest rates much more to get the arrows up.

"If it's become cheaper to borrow, you should probably borrow more," the International Monetary Fund's former chief economist Olivier Blanchards told the Financial Times newspaper Thursday's edition in connection with the annual central bank governor meeting in Jackson Hole, USA. An investment manager at a venture capital company said that "the markets are screaming at governments to borrow more".

Teal shirts and crispbread

The cost of the industrialized countries' government debt has not been so low since 1975. On average, today the developing countries pay 1.77 percent of GDP in interest rates. That's less than half of what was paid in the mid-1990s.

Voices are now heard because it's time to throw the thong shirt and crispbread and instead unbutton the belt. Investments can be made in retrofitted infrastructure, digitalisation and climate change.

Not as stable economy

At the same time, there are risks that others point to. Not all countries in Europe have the same stable economy as Sweden. Many countries' central government debt has risen sharply since the financial crisis. And although it is cheap to borrow now, it may not be as cheap tomorrow.

Today, some governments even get paid to borrow. An increasing proportion of the world's so-called government bonds are now trading more negative interest rates. Right now, the financial market seems to be Göran Persson's almost Old Testament