Borrowing for defense is not recommended, according to the Fiscal Policy Council's annual report.
"It means that future generations will have to pay both for our current failure to prioritize and for their own defense," the council writes.
This is about permanent expenditure increases. Permanent expenditure increases should be financed here and now, says the council's vice chairperson Annika Sundén.
"Fully possible"
The upgrading of defense may also become larger than expected, notes the council, "which underlines the need to start the adjustment immediately".
It is fully possible to finance the defense investments of up to 300 billion kronor, 3-4 percent of GDP, as announced by the government, without borrowing, according to the Fiscal Policy Council.
"If, for example, 3.5 percent of GDP is to be reached by 2030, the increase can be financed with less than half of the budget space that usually occurs annually," the council writes.
"Missing the point"
Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson that the Fiscal Policy Council "misses a very important point".
The decision we made in December means that the increase in defense expenditures in the coming years is very high and takes a large part of the reform space.
Then taking the remaining space, which is not so large, and putting it on further defense, I don't think people think is a good idea. We would have to prioritize away, for example, strengthened welfare or many other things, she says.
According to Svantesson, it's about borrowing for defense for a few years and then getting back into balance.
Permanent expenditures should be permanently financed in the long run, she says.
