Mr. Heikenstein discusses the Swedish financial crisis of the early 1990s Speech by the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Sweden, Mr. Lars Heikenstein, at a seminar arranged by the Swedish embassy held in Seoul, Korea on 15/7/98. Let me begin with a thank you to the organisers of this seminar. I am honoured to have the opportunity to share with you some experiences from the Swedish financial crisis in the early 1990s. 1. Introduction An IMF study from 1996 showed that in the past fifteen years, 132 of the Fund’s 182 member countries had experienced macroeconomic and/or financial crises. Today the figure is even higher. Crises are a recurring phenomenon. In spite of every effort to prevent them, I fear that crises will continue to occur. We should therefore use the opportunities to learn from each other, both in order to avoid making the same mistakes and to find the appropriate correctives sooner. Needless to say, there are no single “best solutions”. Crisis situations are always specific in some respects, not least with regard to their structural and political environment. Had they not been specific, they would probably never have occurred because they would have been “spotted” in advance. Having said this, however, there are a number of globally accepted “truths” about what constitutes a good response to crises. Discussions around crisis situations are usually divided into two parts: crisis prevention and crisis management. In this presentation I will be focusing on the latter.
The efficiency of our response has been strengthened by the concurrent reaction on the fiscal side 4/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  which is more useful than excessively stretching the monetary policy mandate. Our crisis measures must be temporary and targeted. They are justified only in the light of the exceptional circumstances seen during the pandemic. Extraordinary times require extraordinary action. As the crisis evolves and subsides, the ECB will reconsider its tools and supervisory practices. 1 Recital 3 of Decision (EU) 2020/440 of the European Central Bank of 24 March 2020 on a temporary pandemic  emergency purchase programme (ECB/2020/17) (OJ L 91, 25.3.2020, p. 1). 2 Recital 3 of Decision (EU) 2020/440 of the European Central Bank of 24 March 2020 on a temporary pandemic  emergency purchase programme (ECB/2020/17) (OJ L 91, 25.3.2020, p. 1). 3 ibid., Article 4. 4 Account of the monetary policy meeting of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank held in Frankfurt  am Main on Wednesday and Thursday, 3-4 June 2020, available on the ECB’s website. 5/5  BIS central bankers' speeches