The Swedish government’s SKr200bn ($33.4bn) privatisation programme passed the halfway mark Thursday with the sale of Vasakronan, a property company, to AP Fastigheter, one of the country’s pension funds, for SKr41.1bn.

The sale brings the total raised by the centre-right government, which was elected in 2006, to SKr116bn, with the proceeds earmarked for reducing state debt, freeing resources to finance tax cuts and implementing welfare and other reforms.