International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The main focus of the IMF's work is to monitor member countries' economic policies and to provide balance of payments and technical assistance loans to middle- and low-income countries. The Riksbank is Sweden's financial counterpart to the IMF and the Governor of the Riksbank sits on the Executive Board, the IMF's highest decision-making body, which has one representative per member country.

The forms of cooperation within the IMF involve ongoing coordination between the Ministry of Finance and the Riksbank and with the Nordic-Baltic constituency. The constituency includes eight countries that share a seat on the Executive Board.

On the more important IMF issues, there is also informal coordination of the EU countries’ positions within the framework of the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), and its sub-committee for IMF issues (SCIMF), as well as  within the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and its international committee (IRC).

The IMF conducts an annual assessment of Sweden's economy and policies. This is referred to as an Article IV Consultation and it usually concludes with the IMF delegation presenting a statement on the Swedish economy. The report that is formulated on this assessment is subsequently discussed by the IMF’s Executive Board. 

Periodically, the IMF also conducts a review of the financial sector and the authorities' work on financial stability, known as a Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP). The most recent review was conducted in 2022.