STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - While big, highly-rated Swedish companies are able to get financing from banks, deeply indebted firms are facing a severe credit crunch as a result of the ongoing pandemic, the central bank said in a summary of its regular survey of businesses.

"Companies with a high level of indebtedness and/or weak profitability have acute financing problems," the central bank said in a statement.

"It has become both more difficult and more expensive to obtain financing via the securities markets and many think that the larger companies may also need targeted support."

The central bank has launched a raft of measures, including loans in dollars and crowns and an expanded programme of asset purchases to support credit supply and liquidity in the banking system.

(Reporting by Simon Johnson; editing by Niklas Pollard)