The Central Bank Opens Up for Faster Cuts

As expected, the Central Bank is lowering the interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 3.50 percent. More unexpectedly, they are now signaling that there may be three more cuts already this year. We're speeding up this journey a bit, says the Central Bank Governor Erik Thedéen.

» Updated: September 18 2024

» Published: August 20 2024

The Central Bank Opens Up for Faster Cuts
Photo: Anders Humlebo/TT

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Compared to the June announcement, this means that further rate cuts are being opened up for this year.

This means a slightly faster pace in our signaling. If the plans come to fruition, we will have a repo rate of 2.75 or 3.00 percent, says Riksbank Governor Erik Thedéen at a press conference.

It's not that we've made a decision on multiple rate cuts, but we have a fairly clear signaling going forward.

"Cannot rule out 50 points"

This could potentially be the lowest level since the beginning of 2023. Ahead of the interest rate announcement, there has been a discussion about whether it would have been more suitable to cut by 50 points instead of 25 points.

It's clear that you can act very quickly, but the world isn't like that, it changes, and then there are all the reasons to do it gradually, but at a fairly rapid pace.

But at the same time, Thedéen does not rule out a double cut going forward.

We rule out nothing in monetary policy. If inflation becomes very low, then we should move faster and then you can't rule out 50 points. But for me, there's no drama in that.

But as for the prognosis for next year, Erik Thedéen does not want to go into detail.

We say that it's going a bit faster during these months until the end of the year. After that, we haven't communicated any changes.

But I don't think there will be any great drama in our forecast adjustments.

Still uncertain

The background to the rate cut is that inflation has fallen sharply and is now in line with the Swedish Central Bank's inflation target of 2.0 percent. At the same time, the Swedish economy is weaker and unemployment has risen.

Erik Thedéen, however, flags for continued uncertainty:

— We've been through a period of great uncertainty and we live in a still uncertain world. This can of course change, we know that inflation assessments can shift and it can happen quickly.

The announcement was fairly expected. On the interest rate and currency markets, the movements were small. The krona only moved marginally. The dollar costs 10.32 and the euro 11.43. Market interest rates are almost still.

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By TTEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for local and international readers

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