MNI BRIEF: More Riksbank Hikes If Inflation Sticky - Jansson

Policymakers' must keep a focus on near double digit inflation, and not make special concessions for falling Swedish property prices, Riksbank Deputy Governor Per Jansson said Friday, even though residential prices are already down some 11 percent from their peak.

Jansson, responding to questions from MNI following a speech at a Swedbank event, said so far Sweden has been fortunate not to see persistent upside inflation pressure but that the Riksbank would take the policy rate higher than it had projected if those pressures emerge and he did not rule out hiking above neutral and then reversing if need be.

Jansson said that the Riksbank's current policy path is contingent on assumptions of price setting, wage setting and fiscal policy that require support from those involved for the projections to prove realistic. Jansson did not rule out adopting a policy projection that included hikes and reversals, rather than flatlining after further modest tightening, saying if there was a problem with more persisent inflation trends, with high wage increases and rising longer term inflation expectations, then that was when policymakers may find they need to get the policy higher still and then reverse. (MNI RIKSBANK WATCH: 75bps Hike As Rate Peak Nears).