MNI BRIEF: Riksbank Head Thedeen Sticks To H1 Cut Guidance
MNI (LONDON) - Riksbank Governor Erik Thedeen did not tighten up on the guidance that another cut is coming in the first half of the year as he delivered an even-handed assessment of developments facing policymakers ahead of the central bank's January decision.
While inflation in December was a bit softer than the Riksbank forecast price pressure indicators have edged up and "the krona has weakened, which I think calls for some vigilance," Thedeen said in a speech at Swedbank in Stockholm.
He reaffirmed that the policy rate will likely be cut once more in H1 and said they would weigh up developments at the January meeting. Earlier Tuesday his colleague, Deputy Governor Aino Bunge, signalled that she could well back a January cut, saying of policy easing that "I judge that it is better to do so in the near term rather than to wait."