Policymakers at Riksbank's Executive Board were unanimous in their view that monetary policy needed to be expansionary to support the economy, given the low rate of inflation, minutes from the Swedish central bank's July meeting showed Tuesday.
At the monetary policy meeting on July 2, the Board retained the repo rate at 1 percent and kept the repo rate path unchanged.
A majority of four members assessed that it was appropriate to hold the repo rate at 1 percent until the second half of 2014, to support the economy and contribute to inflation rising towards the target.
The members considered high level of debt among Swedish households will likely make the economy more vulnerable to shocks.
They also noted that although a lower repo-rate path could lead to inflation attaining the target slightly sooner, it would also increase debt and thus the risks to economic developments in the longer term.
Two members considered that there was scope to cut the repo rate to 0.75 percent and to let it remain at this level until the second quarter of 2014. They advocated slightly different rates of increase beyond 2014.
The future development of the repo rate was also discussed at the meeting. There were different opinions regarding the probability of increases or cuts in the near term, even within the majority, the minutes revealed.
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June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.