The State Treasury has a separate website, treasuryfinland.fi, that offers information and statistics on Finland’s central government debt management and credit ratings.
The State Treasury is responsible for central government borrowing, cash management and risk management related to the central government debt. The Ministry of Finance provides the State Treasury with guidelines for debt and cash management on an annual basis, within the framework of which the State Treasury operates in the financial market. The State Treasury is also responsible for the government’s relationship with credit rating agencies.
Government borrowing is used for repaying maturing debt and funding possible government budget deficits. The State Treasury carries out borrowing by issuing Treasury bills, serial bonds and other loans via banks. Primary dealer banks maintain a secondary market for almost all of Finland’s serial bonds: they provide bid and ask prices for serial bonds with benchmark status. These serial bonds are called government benchmark bonds.
Purchasers of central government debt, i.e. investors, are large institutions such as pension companies, insurance funds and banks. The government borrowing takes place on international financial markets: both the primary dealers and investors come mainly from outside Finland. The government eliminates exchange rate risk in its borrowing by using derivatives. Thus, the total central government debt is euro-denominated on an after-swap basis.
Comprehensive risk management is an integral part of central government debt management. The primary risks are market risk, financing risk, credit risk, legal risk, operational risk and model risk.