Recruitment plans in the business sector point to continued new recruitment, although there are some differences between sectors. The difference between different sectors is also shown in the Riksbank's Business Survey in February. In general, the companies interviewed believe that economic activity has weakened since last autumn. But several point out that the situation is not as bad as they had feared. Respondents in the manufacturing industry are much more satisfied with the situation than in the trade and construction industries. Orders in the manufacturing industry have increased overall and expectations are that they will remain at the same levels in the coming months. We have also received a new outcome for Statistics Sweden's GDP indicator, which provides an early picture of the development of GDP at the beginning of 2023. It shows that activity in the Swedish economy rose in January and both exports of goods and household consumption increased. Of course, one should not rely too heavily on indicators for individual months. And there is no doubt that GDP growth and the labour market will be weaker in 2023, partly as a result of the tighter monetary policy. But I still think it is worth emphasising that so far the situation in the Swedish economy is not pitch black. Low inflation a condition for good economic performance To conclude – we have our next monetary policy meeting in one month's time. By then, we will have received more information on economic developments, including the outcome for inflation in March.
The Riksbank may buy and sell such securities if there are exceptional reasons, as stated in the act. In principle, this means that we must make the assessment that other measures would not have the desired effect on the economy. The new act now also gives the Riksbank an explicit mandate to trade in securities within the framework of our task of contributing to the stability and efficiency of the financial system. For instance, the Riksbank may buy and sell securities to temporarily support financial markets for the purpose of counteracting a serious disturbance in the financial system, if there are exceptional reasons. The Riksbank's mandate remains strong  3/10  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  I will not go through all the details of the new act that have a bearing on monetary policy. The overall picture is that some things have changed. But the important thing is that we can do what we need to do to fulfil our tasks, in normal times and in times of crisis. The Riksbank has a strong and clear mandate to conduct flexible inflation targeting, where the overriding objective is for inflation to be lastingly low and stable. This is important now that the inflation target is being seriousl put to the test in a situation where inflation significantly overshoots the target for the first time since its introduction in 1995.