MNI BRIEF: Riksbank Minutes Show Door Open To Faster Hikes

Although Riksbank guidance points to slower, smaller rate hikes ahead some members still believed larger and faster hikes may prove necessary if high inflation persisted, the minutes of the April meeting show. The board hiked the policy rate by 0.5 percentage points to 3.5%, while stating that another hike of only 25bps was likely in June or September. But the minutes showed some concerns that this slower tightening pace may not prove realistic.

Deputy Governor Per Jansson said that "I am fully prepared to support both faster and larger policy-rate rises than assumed in this forecast, if it proved necessary," while his colleague AIno Bunge said that although the benchmark manufacturing pay deal and lower inflation expectations had provided some hope on the inflation front "Without this light, I would consider, like Per Jansson, that the interest rate would have had to be raised further."

Deputy Governor Martin Floden and First Deputy Governor Anna Breman both backed only a 25bps hike at the April meeting, but the minutes revealed that Floden supported an alternative rate path showing greater uncertainty, leaving the door open to the policy rate being increased by 0.5 percentage points in June, or not at all. (MNI INTERVIEW: Riksbank Policy Must Stay Restrictive - Thedeen)