The objective of monetary policy

According to the Sveriges Riksbank Act, the objective of monetary policy is to “maintain price stability”. The Riksbank has interpreted this objective to mean a low, stable rate of inflation.

More precisely, the Riksbank's objective is to keep inflation around 2 per cent per year, as measured by the annual change in the consumer price index (CPI). There is a tolerance range of plus/minus 1 percentage point around this target. At the same time, the range is an expression of the Riksbank’s ambition to limit such deviations. In order to keep inflation around 2 per cent the Riksbank adjusts its key interest rate, the repo rate.

On 15 February the Riksbank's Monetary Policy Report was published.

This is what was previously the Inflation Report, and is now, with effect from 15 February 2007, called the Monetary Policy Report. One reason for the change in name is that the report contains a monetary policy message.

Report by Frederic S Mishkin and Francesco Giavazzi

In spring 2005 the Riksdag Committee on Finance decided to evaluate the monetary policy conducted by the Riksbank during the period 1995-2005. The Committee appointed two professors, Frederic S Mishkin, formerly of Columbia University in New York and now a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and Francesco Giavazzi, of Bocconi University in Milan, to carry out the evaluation.

The report "An evaluation of Swedish monetary policy 1995-2005" was published on 28 November.