The consequences for Swedish monetary policy right now What do the rising commodity prices mean for the interest rate decision we made a couple of weeks ago? What will it entail for future monetary policy if these price rises continue? Well, it is of course largely the balancing act I recently described. We Executive Board members must currently take into account in our deliberations the forces pulling the economy in  4  BIS Review 57/2008  different directions. In Sweden economic activity is still fairly strong, but there are signs of a slowdown. We are also seeing weaker international developments and financial turmoil. In contrast, inflation and inflation expectations remain high. One can thus say that commodity prices are in a way in both scales of the balance. They are to some extent both behind the slowdown in economic activity and behind the high inflation and inflation expectations. The way my Executive Board colleagues and I weighed together the various factors at the most recent monetary policy meeting resulted in our holding the repo rate unchanged at 4.25 per cent. We are also currently assuming that the interest rate will need to be held at this level in 2008 to manage the inflation target a couple of years ahead. Of course, commodity prices were important in our assessments. So let me therefore conclude by describing how I myself reasoned in connection with the interest rate decision.
Safeguarding monetary and financial stability of Albania is the best service we provide to the Albanian economy. On the other hand, the growth of production potential of the economy, the strengthening of its resilience against shocks, and the increase of society's welfare requires to further continuing and strengthening the structural reforms. Thank you for your attention! 5/5  BIS - Central bankers' speeches