Sweden's central bank said Thursday it will leave its repo rate unchanged at 1.25 percent as the Euro crisis keeps haunting the country's economy while it seeks to balance concerns over household debt levels.

"The Swedish economy has so far grown at a good pace, but is now slowing down due to the weak developments abroad" the Riksbank said in a statement. "Unemployment is expected to rise somewhat in the coming period and inflationary pressures are low". 

The central bank lowered its predictions for the GDP growth this year to 0.9 percent from 1.5 percent forecast in September. The GDP outlook for 2013 was cut to 1.8 percent from 1.9 percent.

The move to keep the rate unchanged was expected by nine out of 10 economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires.