Sweden’s Riksbank needs broader mandate: Minister

Bloomberg

The finance minister of Sweden wants her country’s central bank to take more factors into account than just inflation, when setting monetary policy.
In Stockholm, Magdalena Andersson spoke in favour of having more explicit growth and employment targets for the Riksbank. They should be “clearer” goals in monetary
policy, she said.
Sweden’s central bank has been targeting inflation since the early 1990s. But in the past few years, it has faced growing criticism after it resorted to an historic stimulus program to sup- port price growth. That prom-pted a review of the Riksbank’s mandate, with a government-appointed committee set to deliver its findings later this year.
But that review won’t look at whether the Riksbank should get an outright dual mandate, since that is not allowed under current EU regulations. Even so, there’s some room for change, according to Andersson.
“What you could have is a somewhat greater emphasis and that’s something being discussed in the Riksbank committee,” she said. “We’ll see what conclusion they reach.”
The minister’s comments come amid an increasingly heated debate in Sweden, after the Riksbank in April decided once again to backtrack from earlier tightening plans.