- Decision
- Maintain
- Rate change
- 0 bps
- Policy rate
- 1.75%
Sveriges Riksbank’s Executive Board kept the policy rate at 1.75 % on 29 January 2026 and repeated that this setting should underpin the ongoing pick-up in activity and anchor inflation around the 2 % target, with new data showing stronger-than-expected late-2025 growth, firmer household consumption, tentative labour-market improvements and December inflation now near target. Following a 25 bp cut to 1.75 % in September 2025, the rate has been unchanged at the last three meetings. No additional liquidity or corridor changes were announced and the decision takes effect on 4 February 2026. Externally, the US dollar’s continued depreciation has lifted the Swedish krona, and the central bank noted that currency moves, domestic fiscal easing and elevated geopolitical and US trade-policy uncertainty have widened risks around the outlook. While judging the current stance appropriate, the Riksbank stressed it is “vigilant” and stands ready to adjust policy should prospects for inflation or economic activity deteriorate, but for now expects the rate to stay at 1.75 % for an extended period.
Rate evolution
From June 2025 to September 2026, the Riksbank lowered the policy rate from 2 per cent to 1.75 per cent, cutting in June and September 2025 and then holding it unchanged. The June cut reflected a recovery that had lost momentum, a softer inflation outlook, weak growth and high unemployment, while an August pause treated above-target inflation as temporary despite weak activity, and the September cut followed signs of easing inflation pressures even as the recovery and labour-market improvement remained delayed.
During subsequent holds through June 2026, the Riksbank said inflation had moved close to target and then below forecast while activity improved only tentatively, but uncertainty widened from trade policy and domestic demand to the war in the Middle East, energy and commodity prices, the krona and fiscal policy. On 17 June, it judged that underlying inflation was low and activity somewhat weaker than normal, but raised its policy-rate forecast somewhat and flagged a greater probability of an increase later in 2026 as war-related supply disruptions lifted inflationary pressures.
On 20 August, the Riksbank held the policy rate at 1.75 per cent, noting that growth and inflation had exceeded its June forecast but that subdued company pricing plans, fewer global supply-chain disruptions and weaker-than-expected labour-market developments left the overall outlook largely unchanged. On 24 September, it again held the rate at 1.75 per cent, but said stronger, broad-based activity and continued supply shocks meant the policy rate should rise more than projected in June, with increases expected to begin in 2026 if the outlook remained unchanged, as inflation pressures remained above normal despite measures of underlying inflation being relatively close to 2 per cent.