Government to sell state-owned assets to reduce public debt.

• Sweden hikes economic growth forecast

Sweden’s Finance Minister Anders Borg plans to sell state-owned equity assets as soon as stock market conditions are favourable.

"We will come to this when these companies show that they are in the right situation and when we have a stock market development that supports it," the minister told journalists Tuesday as he presented the government’s 2011 budget, Reuters said. "We have no need for these funds, which will be used to reduce public debt."

He also expects the partial sale of state owned companies telecom operator TeliaSonera, mortgage lender SBAB and the region’s largest bank Nordea, to yield around 25 billion kronor ($3.7 billion) a year for the next four years. The center-right government also plans to bring in a minority owner for utility Vattenfall.

However, Sweden's recent election, resulting in a hung parliament, means the governemnt may not be strong enough to push asset sales past a reluctant parliament. The left-wing opposition are not as keen on a sell-off as the government. And newcomer anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats would rather see Vattenfall, Europe's fifth-largest power company, owned by the state.