On other occasions there may be an obstacle in the form of a disruption, such as the Asian crisis the other year. In both cases, monetary policy must be adjusted to the economic laws but also to the conditions that apply for the current phase of the journey. What I mean is that interest rate hikes and cuts are a natural ingredient of a monetary policy for price stability - a policy that ultimately aims for a stable development of production and employment. The favourable economic trend in Sweden in recent years is in fact a good illustration of price stability’s affinity with a stable expansion of output and jobs. Since the upturn after the crisis in the early-1990s, the annual GDP growth rate has averaged around 3%, the number in employment has risen by almost 150,000 persons and the rate of inflation has been more or less around the target. This has called for repo rate increases on some occasions and cuts on others. 1  BIS Review 6/2000  Rapid GDP growth during 1999 So at what speed is the Swedish economy currently travelling? What are the speed limits? And what repo rate is appropriate for a safe journey? According to the latest national accounts, published just before Christmas, the GDP growth rate for the first three quarters of 1999 was over 3.5%. It is still difficult to tell just what happened in the fourth quarter but demand growth seems, if anything, to have accelerated.
We aim to achieve a return on the Fund which exceeds market returns by 25 basis points every year. Since inception, the excess return has been 31 basis points, a satisfactory result in our view. The chart shows our major investments in Spain. We more than doubled our holdings of Spanish public debt during 2010. The reason was partly increasing returns, which made these investments more attractive. By the end of 2010, the Fund owned stocks in 80 companies listed on Bolsa de Madrid. The total value of these investments was EUR 5.6 billion. That is on a par with the benchmark portfolio. That makes our Fund one of the largest financial investors in Spain. The fact that the Fund represents another country’s government makes it important for us to be transparent, regarding both our targets and aims and our modus operandi. The central point is the division between the government and the central bank. The government provides the rules, the central bank makes the concrete investment decision. Another is our mission to be a financial investor. We seek no strategic stakes. We do not sit on the executive boards. Thank you.