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4.2
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Sales of government bonds continuing
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_title
null
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hawkish
As a supplement to the policy rate increases, and a step towards normalising the Riksbank's balance sheet, the Riksbank is continuing to sell government bonds in accordance with the decision from June.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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hawkish
An increased volume of safe and easily tradeable assets on the Swedish market can make it easier for foreign agents to invest in Swedish assets and also improve the functionality of the financial markets.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
Altogether, this may contribute to a stronger krona and improve the Riksbank’s capacity to reduce inflation.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
The sales have so far functioned well, with high demand from market participants.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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positive
Swedish government bond yields at the same time remain low in relation to the expected policy rate.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
Given this, the Riksbank is considering further increasing the pace of the sales.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
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hawkish
A decision on this could be made at the monetary policy meeting in January.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
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hawkish
The Riksbank has no plans to begin selling its holdings of non-government bonds.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
If monetary policy were to need to be adjustment going forward, changes in the policy rate are assessed to be the most appropriate tool.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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hawkish
Maturities and sales will mean that the Riksbank's holdings of securities fall rapidly in the coming years (see Figure 9).
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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hawkish
Next year, the Riksbank is planning to return to the topic of what comprises a reasonable level for its asset holdings in the long term and describe in more detail how such a portfolio should be composed.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
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neutral
Inflation falls towards the target when economic activity slows down
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_title
null
null
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positive
There are clear signs that demand is slowing down in the Swedish economy as a result of the implemented policy rate increases.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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negative
GDP is expected to continue falling for some time to come (see Figure 10).
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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negative
As mentioned earlier, signs that the economic slowdown has reached the labour market have become clearer and the employment rate is assessed to be slightly lower than in the most recent forecast from September.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
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negative
However, it is important to bear in mind that the downturn on the labour market is modest and taking place from a strong starting point.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
In addition to the effect of the rising interest rates, demand is also held back by a very weak development in real wages this year.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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negative
The lower activity in the Swedish economy, together with an expected strengthening of the krona exchange rate, will contribute to inflation falling towards the target during the course of next year (see Figure 11).
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
As in previous forecasts, inflation measured as the target variable CPIF is expected to come close to the target slightly sooner than underlying inflation measured as the CPIF excluding energy.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
The forecasts are described in more detail in Chapter 3.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
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neutral
The economic outlook remains uncertain
23/11/2023
Nov-23
sub_sec_title
null
1.3
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neutral
Several factors make economic developments abroad and in Sweden uncertain.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
Ultimately, these factors can also affect Swedish inflation prospects and the Riksbank’s monetary policy.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
One risk that has gradually intensified in recent years concerns the sustainability of public finances abroad.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
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neutral
Major fiscal policy support measures were launched in conjunction with the pandemic which, in turn, led to large budget deficits and rising government debt in many countries.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
At the same time, the global level of interest rates has risen sharply in recent years, making it more difficult to fund government debt.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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negative
This could pose risks to growth abroad for two main reasons.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
Firstly, the need for fiscal policy tightening could increase, and secondly confidence among economic agents could be affected, which would further make borrowing difficult.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
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negative
In this context, it is worth noting that public finances in Sweden are very strong, which reduces the need for fiscal policy tightening and also improves the conditions for the Riksbank’s monetary policy.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
The Swedish economic outlook is also surrounded by a number of uncertainty factors.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
One of these concerns demand for consumption among Swedish households.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
As described earlier, consumption has already been affected quite significantly by the rising interest rates.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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negative
However, despite their short interest-rate fixation periods, households’ mortgage rates in the stock of borrowers have not yet been fully affected by the rate rises implemented so far, and households are also indirectly affected by the debts of tenant-owner housing associations which have a longer interest-rate fixatio...
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
If households have not accounted for this, there is a risk that consumption will be weaker than expected going forward.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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negative
On the other hand, households built up savings during the pandemic that they can now use to maintain their consumption to some extent.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
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neutral
However, as there is a lack of current data on the allocation of households’ assets and savings it is difficult to assess the size of this effect.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
Households’ propensity to use their savings for consumption is also affected by developments in the labour market.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
The Swedish labour market has long resisted the downturn in demand well.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
One conceivable explanation for this is that companies have retained their labour, with the lessons learned from the recovery after the pandemic, when it was difficult to find staff, fresh in their minds.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
However, it may also be connected with the economic downturn not expected to be particularly deep or long-lasting.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
However, signs of a weakening labour market are now becoming visible.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
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negative
Admittedly the Riksbank's forecast is that the weakening will be relatively small, but if demand falls more than expected, companies could rapidly change their behaviour and instead rapidly start laying staff off.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
This could in turn slow down demand even further, by households increasing their precautionary savings, due to concern they could lose their jobs.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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negative
In this eventuality, economic activity and the labour market in Sweden could develop less favourably than in the Riksbank’s forecast.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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negative
The rising interest rates have also created considerable uncertainty on the housing market.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
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negative
After the sharp fall last year, prices have not changed as much this year, but they have fallen somewhat in recent months.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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negative
The Riksbank's forecast is that prices will fall somewhat further in the coming period, and thereafter stabilise and then gradually begin rising again.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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negative
However, developments are very difficult to assess.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
It is primarily household consumption and housing investment that could be affected if housing prices develop differently from the Riksbank's forecast.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
One risk that the Riksbank has long warned about concerns the commercial property sector, where some highly-leveraged companies have encountered problems in the wake of rising interest rates.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
null
negative
However, there are major differences between companies in the sector: some have strong balance sheets and are in a relatively good position to manage rising interest rates, while other, highly indebted companies are more vulnerable.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
The Riksbank’s analyses indicate that the Swedish banks have sufficient capital to deal with significant problems in the property sector.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
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neutral
But if even more property companies experience difficulties, confidence in the banking system could deteriorate and impact the banks’ funding conditions, which could affect their ability and willingness to supply credit.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
null
neutral
In such a scenario, the real economy could also be adversely affected.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
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negative
The Riksbank therefore considers that the major Swedish banks should aim to have a satisfactory margin down to the formal capital requirements.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
null
neutral
As mentioned earlier, the development of the future krona exchange rate is very uncertain.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
null
neutral
Some of the factors that could cause the krona to deviate from the Riksbank's forecast are linked to the risks regarding the economic prospects discussed in this section.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
For instance, both an increase in geopolitical tension abroad and poorer economic prospects in Sweden could cause the krona to depreciate more than expected going forward.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
null
negative
Alternative scenarios for inflation and monetary policy
23/11/2023
Nov-23
sub_sec_title
null
1.4
null
neutral
The scenarios in this section aim to describe how monetary policy can be affected if inflationary pressures are higher or lower than in the Riksbank's forecast.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
Over the past year, the Riksbank has published several scenarios where inflation becomes higher or lower than expected for various reasons, for example, exchange rate developments, changes in commodity prices or company pricing.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
The purpose of the scenarios is to illustrate that developments are uncertain, to point to uncertainty factors that the Riksbank is currently focussing on and to try to indicate how the monetary policy plan may need to be changed if the uncertainty factors materialise.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
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neutral
This section discusses two scenarios for inflation: one where it is higher and one where it is lower than in the main scenario.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
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neutral
The first scenario, where inflation becomes higher than expected, is based on companies’ pricing.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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negative
There it is assumed that companies increase their margins to maintain their profitability.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
This means that inflation becomes higher than expected, but GDP is weaker than expected.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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negative
The second scenario is linked to the risks of weaker demand as discussed in Section 1.3.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
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negative
In this scenario both GDP and inflation are lower than in the main scenario.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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negative
Unlike the scenarios previously published over the past year, we only show here the development when monetary policy adapts to the new conditions in the scenarios and try to bring inflation back to the target within a reasonable period of time.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
Companies increase their margins and inflation becomes higher than expected – monetary policy is further tightened
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_title
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hawkish
At present we see signs that companies’ costs are increasing at a slower pace than before.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
As described earlier, companies’ price plans do not have the same focus on price increases as when inflation was at its peak at the end of last year.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
But it is difficult to know what will happen going forward.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
In this scenario it is assumed that companies do not adapt their prices in accordance with their costs, but instead increase their margins.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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negative
This means that inflation becomes higher than expected in the coming period.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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negative
The higher inflationary pressures in the scenario are to some extent illustrated by the red line in the left-hand image in Figure 13, where inflation becomes higher despite tighter monetary policy.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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negative
However, the higher inflationary pressures are reflected not only in higher inflation than expected, but also in that indicators, such as companies’ price plans, show an unexpected upturn.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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negative
There are strong reasons for monetary policy to react with a higher policy rate if inflationary pressures prove to be higher than expected.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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hawkish
A possible monetary policy response is shown in the red line in the right-hand image in Figure 13.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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dovish
By beginning interest rate increases at an early stage during the first half of next year, the Riksbank is trying to both soften demand so that companies cannot raise their prices as planned, and to avoid the higher inflation giving rise to so-called secondary effects that raise inflation expectations.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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hawkish
In this way, one also avoids wage formation being affected to any significant extent, and inflation can approach the target during the forecast period.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
This is illustrated by the red line in the left-hand image in Figure 13.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
GDP develops somewhat weaker when companies’ margins become higher than expected.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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negative
This is because the companies make an active choice to produce smaller volumes at higher prices.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
In this way, higher margins can be said to be a type of supply shock.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
If the Riksbank raises the policy rate, it dampens the real economy further, so that the GDP level is lower and unemployment is higher.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
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negative
The lower GDP level compared with the main scenario is shown in the red line in Figure 14.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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negative
However, compared with monetary policy not reacting quickly and instead needing to raise the policy rate at a later stage, the long-term real economic costs are small.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
Lower demand pushes down inflation faster – interest rate cuts begin earlier
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_title
null
null
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negative
One possible reason why inflation could become lower than in the main scenario is that the development of demand is weaker than expected.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
Section 1.3 described some possible reasons why this could happen, which could stem both from abroad and from domestic conditions.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
If demand becomes lower than expected, it could mean both that the development of the real economy is weaker and that inflation becomes lower than in the main scenario.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
This is partly because it would be more difficult for companies to raise their prices when demand weakens.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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neutral
The red line in the right-hand image in Figure 15 shows a possible monetary policy reaction to the weaker demand and lower inflation.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
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dovish
The fact that the real economy and inflation are changing in the same direction, which is normal in disturbances to demand, in some way simplifies the monetary policy trade-off: it clearly indicates a less contractionary monetary policy than in the main scenario.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
But in today’s situation, the trade-off is nevertheless complicated by inflation having been much higher than the target level for a period of time and remaining so.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
null
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negative
The Riksbank has on several occasions over the past year communicated that lowerthan-expected inflation is much less of a problem than higher-than-expected inflation.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
Although the scenario means that the real economy and inflation “pull monetary policy in the same direction”, it is likely that the Riksbank would not immediately begin to cut the interest rate.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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neutral
It is therefore assumed that interest rate cuts will instead begin in the middle of next year.
23/11/2023
Nov-23
par_body
null
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dovish