Stefan Lofven has resigned a week after becoming the first Swedish leader to lose a no-confidence vote.
The Social Democrat did not call a snap election but instead asked the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament to begin the search for a replacement.
Andreas Norlen will ask the main party leaders if they can form a government. If that fails after four attempts, a snap election will have to be called. It would be the first such election in Sweden since 1958.
Mr Lofven lost the confidence vote on June 21 after the socialist Left Party withdrew its support following a clash about rent controls.
The government insisted on passing a new law that would have abolished Sweden’s system of setting rents by collective bargaining between landlords and the main tenants' union.
Mr Lofven, who will continue in a caretaker role until a new government is formed, led a fragile minority coalition with the Greens since 2018, relying on support from two small centre-right parties and the Left Party.
The centre-left and centre-right blocs are now evenly balanced and opinion polls show a general election might not change the picture.
Mr Lofven said "a snap election is not what is best for Sweden" because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that a general election is due next year.
“The Speaker will now begin work on proposing a prime minister who can be tolerated by the Riksdag [the Parliament]," he said.
"The government will continue to govern the country for now but as the caretaking government.”
The last time coalition talks took place in Sweden was after the 2018 election that created a deadlocked Parliament. It took four months of negotiations to create the coalition government led by Mr Lofven.
In the present assembly, the left-leaning side and the centre-right bloc have about 40 per cent of the vote each.
None of the sides want to co-operate with the Sweden Democrats, a right-wing, populist party that is considered extreme.
The next general election is due to be held on September 11, 2022.
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The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
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The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
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