Account of monetary policy, 2016 – the policy has had an effect
News The Account of monetary policy provides material for the Riksdag Committee on Finance’s annual assessment of the Riksbank's monetary policy. It is observed in the account that the Riksbank's expansionary monetary policy has had the intended effect: Inflation has risen closer to the target, long-term inflation expectations are back around 2 per cent and the Swedish economy has developed well.
However, the upturn in inflation was still fairly fragile and there were moreover risks linked to international developments. During the year, the Executive Board of the Riksbank was therefore unanimous that monetary policy needed to remain expansionary to safeguard confidence in the inflation target of 2 per cent.
The account also contains a presentation of the Riksbank's forecasts for 2016, which were made in the period 2014-2015. The forecasts succeeded in capturing developments in the real economy relatively well, although international economic activity was somewhat weaker than forecast. On the other hand, inflation was overestimated both in Sweden and abroad.
In an endeavour to present a more comprehensible and easy-to-read report, we have this year produced a shorter version. Previously, the account contained a technical evaluation of the forecasting performance of both the Riksbank and other analysts. With effect from this year, an analysis of this type, but going into greater depth, will be published in a separate study.