There is nothing that in principle prevents an inflation targeter from considering forecasts beyond a three-year horizon, but in practice there is usually little information about anything at longer horizons except the tendency to revert to the long-term average. What about “leaning against the wind” (as advocated by, for instance, Borio and White, 2003, and Cecchetti, Genberg and Wadhwani, 2002), the idea that central banks should raise the interest rate more than what appears to be warranted by inflation and resource utilization to counter rapid credit growth and rising asset prices? It has sometimes not been quite clear whether advocates of leaning against the wind mean that credit growth and asset prices should be considered targets and enter the explicit or implicit loss functions alongside inflation and resource utilization, or whether they mean that credit growth and asset prices should still be considered just indicators and are emphasized only because credit growth and asset prices may have potential negative effects on inflation and resource utilization at a longer horizon. In the latter case, leaning against the wind is a way to improve the stability of inflation and resource utilization in the longer run. Then it is completely consistent with flexible inflation targeting. 17 However, in line with the previous discussion, instruments other than interest rates are likely to be much more effective in avoiding excessive credit growth and asset-price booms, and should thus be used as a first best alternative.
The entire Executive Board and most of the members of the Monetary Policy Department take part in this meeting. In addition, a number of advisers to the Executive Board and employees of the Financial Stability Department usually take part. A summary of the new information and the current status of the economy in Sweden and abroad is presented at the meeting. We also run through the alternative scenarios ordered at the risk meeting a few weeks earlier and discuss whether they really capture the risks that we Executive Board members envisage. We also have the opportunity at this meeting to request more information on various issues considered important to the coming decision. The meeting usually takes around three hours. Monetary Policy Department establishes its forecasts At approximately the same time as the meeting with the Executive Board, the Monetary Policy Department establishes its view of macroeconomic developments over the coming three years. In a preliminary stage it focuses on around ten key variables such as inflation, interest rates, GDP, number of hours worked, exchange rates and resource utilisation. The forecasts are produced on the basis of the exogenous conditions, the international forecasts, the model forecasts for the Swedish economy conditional on the current situation and assessments. The forecast for the interest rate path produced by the Monetary Policy Department is meant to reflect the Executive Board’s normal, historical behaviour. It is not  6  BIS Review 77/2008  any form of recommendation from the Department.