Swedish key rate held unchanged
Sweden's central bank aims to boost economic recovery.

[Stefan Ingves, governor of the world's oldest central bank]
| Related news: • Increasing support for euro in Sweden • Sweden's deflation deeper than expected • Sweden's FinMin sees the light in the tunnel |
The recovery in the economy is continuing and inflationary pressure will be low in the coming period, the Swedish Riksbank said in a statement Wednesday.
To support economic recovery and attain the inflation target of 2 percent the central bank will keep the seven-day repo rate at record low 0.25 percent.
"The repo rate is expected to remain at this low level until autumn 2010 and then to be raised towards more normal levels", the Stockholm-based Riksbank, the world’s oldest central bank, said.
The decision was expected by analysts although uncertainty remains.
“There is still a risk that the economy will weaken,” Roger Josefsson, chief economist at Danske Bank in Stockholm, told Bloomberg. “We haven’t seen any big signs of a strong inflation trend in the Swedish economy” and unemployment is still high.
Sweden's GDP decreased by 5.0 percent in the third quarter, in working-day adjusted figures compared to the third quarter of 2008. This means that the decline of the economy has came to an halt; compared with the second quarter the economy increased by 0.2 percent.
Sweden’s Finance Minister Anders Borg said earlier this month that state’s finances are recovering from the financial crisis and global downturn faster than previously predicted.
"The somewhat better outlook along with responsible fiscal policy means that the development of Sweden's public finances will be somewhat better than previously expected," he said.
Last Updated (Sunday, 27 December 2009 17:13)









