(Bloomberg) -- While Swedish policy makers have said they will have no problem tightening ahead of the European Central Bank, history suggests that doing so could backfire.
ECB Loses Sway in Sweden With Riksbank Looking for Stimulus Exit
The Riksbank has this century raised interest rates faster than its counterparts in Frankfurt and Washington twice. Both times ended in a retreat, with the Swedish bank battling to contain a strengthening currency and a slowdown in inflation, according to Danske Bank A/S analyst Marcus Soderberg.
During a brief period in 2002 the Riksbank raised rates even as the Fed and the ECB were on hold. This sparked a krona rally. The same pattern was repeated in 2010-11, triggering a prolonged effort to keep inflation up as a stronger krona pushed down import prices and damped exports.
Ingves, Reformed ‘Sadomonetarist,' Gets Riksbank Extension (3)
At the end of the easing cycles that followed, the Riksbank's benchmark was lower than both the Fed's and the ECB's main policy rates.
Deviating from the ECB or Federal Reserve could therefore be followed by a stronger krona and a substantial drop in inflation, just shortly after the central bank managed to re-anchor price growth around the 2 percent target, according to Danske Bank.
To contact the reporter on this story: Love Liman in Stockholm at jliman1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ven Ram at vram1@bloomberg.net, Jonas Bergman, Tasneem Hanfi Brögger
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