New wealth statistics may also help to tackle our shortage of knowledge about other types of wealth that resemble the funded collective pension wealth that I 2 Nilsson et al. (2014) discuss the significance of collective pension saving in the Swedish financial system. 3 The annual ceiling is set to 7.5 income base amounts. For 2019, the ceiling was at a labour income of SEK 43,300  a month. 4 The annual income cut-off point has been set at SEK 511,500 for 2021. This corresponds to monthly labour income of SEK 42,600. 5 The Inquiry’s terms of reference can be accessed at https://www.regeringen.se/rattsliga-dokument/kommittedirektiv/2021/01/dir.-20214/ . 3 [6]  have discussed so far. Two examples that come to mind are the wealth created by individual pension saving and the wealth created by saving in life insurance. It is currently unclear how these types of wealth are distributed, as they are the result of the decisions of private individuals. International comparison So what about abroad? Is there hidden wealth in other countries as well? Figure 2 presents an international comparison for a selection of countries. I have retrieved data from OECD (2019).6 The blue bars show wealth in pension scheme funds in relation to GDP. The red bars show wealth in buffer funds for national pension systems. As is shown in the figure, there is very substantial wealth in the Danish pension scheme agreements. In the United States, Canada and Australia, there is also very considerable amounts in funded pension scheme agreements.
Economic and monetary developments Since our last meeting, the Governing Council has left key ECB rates unchanged: the main refinancing rate currently stands at 0.75%; the rate on the deposit facility stands at 0%; and the rate on the marginal lending facility stands at 1.50%. Economic activity contracted for a third consecutive quarter in the fourth quarter of 2012. Available indicators signal further weakness at the beginning of 2013, with domestic demand remaining dampened. This is due to weak consumer and investor sentiment and to the necessary balance sheet adjustments in both the public and private sectors. Foreign demand also remains subdued. Economic weakness in the early part of 2013 is expected to be followed by a very gradual recovery later in the year. Strengthening global demand, our accommodative monetary policy stance and the improvement in financial market confidence across euro area countries should all work their way through to spending and investment decisions and support the recovery. Even though we have yet to see sustained improvement in the real economy, survey indicators have confirmed earlier evidence of a stabilisation of business and consumer confidence, albeit at low levels. Taking a somewhat longer view, the improvement in financial market confidence since last summer has been significant. As regards the exchange rate, let me be clear that the exchange rate is not a policy target, but it is important for growth and price stability.