Currency hedging – sales of dollars and euros
The Riksbank has decided to hedge part of the foreign exchange reserve to reduce the currency risk. This will be done by selling USD 8 billion and EUR 2 billion for Swedish kronor. The Riksbank will publish information on its website, on this page, on a weekly basis on the amount of dollars and euros the Riksbank has sold. Reporting will take place on Fridays at 10:30.
Part of the currency hedging is done by the Riksbank exchanging so-called EU payments when possible. The Riksbank started sales of foreign currency on 25 September 2023 and they will be fully complete within four to six months. The Riksbank will then enter into FX swaps in the foreign exchange market to maintain the size of the foreign exchange reserves.
Below, the Riksbank publishes how many dollars and euros have been sold so far. Reporting is done retrospectively with a two-week delay.
Total sales of EUR and USD per week
Figure: Total sales of EUR and USD per week
Aggregated sales of EUR and USD
Figure: Aggregated sales of EUR and USD
EU payments in currency hedging
Sweden’s EU membership entails monthly contributions to the EU’s budget. These are made by the Swedish National Debt Office in Swedish kronor to a central bank within the euro system. The recipient central bank then needs to exchange Swedish kronor into euro and primarily the Riksbank is offered to exchange the amount and then buy kronor via a bilateral FX transaction. The Riksbank can choose to exchange the EU payment to avoid unnecessarily large exchange rate fluctuations. When the Riksbank hedges part of its foreign exchange reserves, the Riksbank can choose to use EU payments and exchange more or possibly all of these to achieve part of the currency hedge. The EU payments that have been used in the currency hedge are reported here.
Turnover statistics
Every week the Riksbank publishes turnover statistics (SELMA) for the foreign exchange market, among others. The statistics include daily turnover statistics in Swedish kronor reported by the Riksbank's counterparties in foreign exchange transactions. The statistics show, for example, what turnover these counterparties have with the Riksbank.
With effect from 16 October and until the currency hedging is fully implemented, the published turnover statistics will not include transactions where the Riksbank is a counterparty. However, these statistics will be published retrospectively when the currency hedging is completed.
Since turnover statistics refer to purchases and sales of currency and only refer to transactions made by the Riksbank with counterparties subject to reporting requirements, it will, when published, not be consistent with the Riksbank's weekly reporting of sales of dollars and euros.
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