In such situations, the central bank needs, in both word and deed, to put inflation first, in the same way as the Riksbank needed to do when the inflation target had recently been introduced at the start of the 1990s and confidence in the target needed to be built up. Of course, back then, the situation was the reverse – what was needed was to restrain inflation, not make it increase. So, to summarise my comments so far. A number of factors have led to the scope for monetary policy now seeming to be more limited than it was ten or so years ago. The most obvious of these is that the global real interest rate, that has long shown a decreasing trend, has now reached very low levels. There is also an ongoing debate on whether the actions of large, dominant central banks place clear restrictions on which monetary policy can be conducted in small countries. The main line of inquiry so far, at least for industrialised countries with floating exchange rates, is that a sufficient degree of monetary policy autonomy exists in normal cases. But under certain circumstances – such as when an  8  6  I am not going to discuss in any more detail why it is important to defend the inflation target. This has been discussed in depth elsewhere, both by me and by other representatives of the Riksbank, for example in Skingsley (2015) and Flodén (2015).
Consumer interest groups and business associations also need to be proactive in updating and disseminating information on the availability of financing options such as guarantees, special schemes, and other forms of alternative financing. There are many micro enterprises that still rely on personal loans to finance business operations due to the lack of information and awareness on the existence of such financing options in the market. As a result, these enterprises are required to pay high interest rates to settle personal debts taken, while more cost-effective financing facilities remain underutilised. Business associations should strengthen their role by deepening understanding on the underlying causes before raising issues on access to funding. More often than not, the issues raised by business associations are channeled in the form of general complaints that have yet to be studied thoroughly or specifically. This compounds the difficulty of resolving the issues given 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  the lack of supporting details. In addition, business associations can act as an important point of reference in advising members on matters concerning efficiency and competitiveness, the use of technology and the adoption of electronic payments to achieve greater security and cost efficiencies. For consumers, priority should be placed on taking charge of their financial futures and ensuring that the financing options available are utilised responsibly. This can be achieved by conducting due diligence and research on the features of a potential financial product, which will lead to better understanding to facilitate informed decision-making.