A majority of the policymakers at Riksbank's Executive Board have expressed concern about the high level of household debt in the country, minutes of the central bank's April-16 monetary policy meeting revealed Monday.
The Board felt that rising debt may increase the risk of a sharp increase in unemployment and long-lasting difficulties in attaining the inflation target, according to the minutes.
Most of them have agreed that household debt should be taken into consideration while framing the monetary policy.
At the policy meeting, the central bank held the repo rate unchanged at 1 percent and adjusted the repo rate path downwards. The bank also said that slow increases in the repo rate are not expected to begin until the second half of 2014.
The Board assessed that inflationary pressures are currently low and core inflation is not expected to reach 2 percent until 2015.
At the same time, the Board members pointed out that there are signs of house prices increasing at a faster pace and this may contribute to upward revision in the forecast for household debt.
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