5 years remaining maturity  Stock markets Index: 31 December 2008 = 100 120  120  110  110  100  100  90  90  80  80  70  70  60  60  50 01 January 2008  50 01 April 2008 Sw eden (O M XS)  BIS Review 7/2009  01 July 2008  01 O ctober 2008  Euro area (EuroStoxx)  01 January 2009  US (S&P 500)  11  Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) Index = 50, unchanged activity 80  80  70  70  60  60  50  50  40  40  30  30  20  20  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008  Euro area  USA  Sweden  The Riksbank’s balance sheet total ASSETS Gold Foreign currency reserve Lending in USD Lending in SEK Other assets Total LIABILITIES Banknotes and coins Fine-tuning Riksbank Certificates Liabilities to Fed Equity Other Total  12  30 June 2008 26 158 0 4 4 192  31 december 2008 30 200 196 266 7 700  Change 4 42 196 262 3 508  108 0 0 0 59 25 192  112 207 49 189 59 84 700  4 207 49 189 0 59 508  BIS Review 7/2009  Policy rates Per cent 7.00  7.00  6.00  6.00  5.00  5.00  4.00  4.00  3.00  3.00  2.00  2.00  1.00  1.00  0.00 01 January 2008  0.00 01 April 2008  01 July 2008 Sweden  Euro area  01 O ctober 2008  01 January 2009  US  Reporate and mortgage rates Per cent 7.00  7.00  6.00  6.00  5.00  5.00  4.00  4.00  3.00  3.00  2.00  2.00  1.00  1.00  0.00 01 January 2005  01 January 2006 SBAB 3 month rate  BIS Review 7/2009  01 January 2007  01 January 2008  M ortgage rate 3 months  0.00 01 January 2009  Repo rate  13  TCW-index Index: 18 November 1992 = 100 150  150 TCW index  145  145  140  140  135  135  130  130  125  125  120 01 January 2000  14  120 01 January 2002  01 January 2004  01 January 2006  01 January 2008  BIS Review 7/2009
Barbro Wickman-Parak: The economy and the labour market Speech by Ms Barbro Wickman-Parak, Deputy Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB), Stockholm, 29 April 2010. *  *  *  Sweden’s GDP fell by almost five per cent in 2009, compared with the previous year. We need to go back as far as the 1940s to find an individual year with a correspondingly large fall in growth. The large demand shock that followed in the wake of the financial crisis had an unavoidable and drastic impact on production and employment. It has been possible to alleviate these effects, but not to prevent them, despite forceful monetary policy measures and expansionary fiscal policy. Normally, changes in employment and unemployment occur two quarters after changes in production. This time, however, it appears as though the upturn in employment has already begun and unemployment has stopped rising, which is surprisingly early given the large fall in GDP. But unemployment is still high, and we are expecting a slow recovery in employment in the coming period. During the past three months unemployment has been around 9 per cent as a share of the labour force. Today I intend to talk about developments in the labour market in Sweden. I will begin by describing how employment usually varies over the business cycle and then discuss what is different this time. I shall conclude by discussing how we Executive Board members viewed developments in the labour market at our monetary policy meeting last week.