The Swedish government, the Financial Supervisory Authority and the central bank estimate that Russia’s Gazprom’s announcement of blocking gas deliveries brings Swedish energy companies to the brink of bankruptcy and the fear of the crisis spreading to the entire economy is real.
19:05•Updated 19:14
Prime minister Magdalena Andersson and the Minister of Finance by Mikael Damberg in addition, the director general of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority participated in the hastily called press conference on Saturday afternoon Erik Thedéen and the governor of the central bank Stefan Ingves.
The expressions of the four were serious. Friday evening’s news that the Russian Gazprom will no longer open the gas pipeline Nord Stream 1 is a direct blow to the operational possibilities of Swedish energy companies.
According to Andersson, the fear is that energy prices will go up sharply on Monday. It means that energy companies have to arrange additional collateral on top of the previously unprecedented collateral requirements.
According to Thedéen, Director General of the Financial Supervisory Authority, it is entirely possible that energy companies will no longer receive financing from banks, because the previous collateral requirements have already been wild, more than 1,000 percent, when prices have risen. The arrangement is complicated, but the companies have to arrange collateral for the electricity exchange in case the company is not able to deliver electricity to its customer in accordance with the contract.
According to Theden, the smaller energy companies, but also the big players, are in a special danger zone on Monday.
According to Prime Minister Andersson, guarantees must be arranged so that the problems do not spread to other sectors and plunge the Swedish economy into a financial crisis.
According to Andersson, Sweden’s goal is also to prevent the crisis from spreading to the Baltics and other Nordic countries.
The Swedish government’s security decision is so drastic that it has to be discussed at the Swedish Diet, which is now called for an extraordinary session on Monday.
Andersson’s goal is to get the security decision made at the Diet even before the stock exchanges close on Monday.
Shortly after the Swedish government’s announcement, the Minister of Finance Annika Saarikko (central) communicated that similar preparations are underway in Finland as well.