Deregulations have also led to increased competition in many areas. The labour market also seems to operate more flexibly than before. 4  BIS Review ? ?/2001  Financial savings in different sectors in Sweden, per cent of GDP Per cent 8  6  Private sec tor  4  2  0  -2  C urrent acc ount  -4  -6  Public s ector  -8  -10  -12  -14 198 0  198 1  19 82  1983  1984  1985  1986  198 7  198 8  19 89  1990  1991  1992  1993  1994  199 5  199 6  1997  1998  1999  2000  And it is considered that there is considerable potential for growth with regard to making use of IT development. This is perhaps more true for Sweden than for the US economy. In the IT sphere, Sweden is a long way forward although to date development has not affected productivity in the whole of the business sector to the same extent as in the United States. Neither have we seen such a strong growth in investment as in the United States. It will be a while before the new technology is implemented and used to the full although it will be first then that major benefits for the whole economy can be expected.
Villy Bergström: The Riksbank’s role in the economy Speech by Mr Villy Bergström, Deputy Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, to the Swedish Shareholders Association, Jönköping, 28 February 2001. *  *  *  Some time ago, the British journal The Economist wrote that the world’s central banks were now at the height of their power. It is easy to get that impression when you see the enormous amount of interest devoted to the central banks in the daily press, the broadcasting media and economic journals. This applies to the Riksbank in Sweden, to the European Central Bank – the ECB – and, especially to the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve with Alan Greenspan in the foreground. During the autumn electoral campaign in the United States, a number of newspapers put forward the view that it would not make any difference whether Al Gore or George Bush was elected as President - it was in any case Greenspan who was in control. When Greenspan surprisingly cut the American instrumental rate by 0.5% in January between two ordinary monetary policy meetings of the Federal Reserve’s decision-making body, the decision was applauded with headlines such as “Greenspan saves the world again”. This type of statement is simply ridiculous. The importance of monetary policy cannot be compared with the Government’s general policies or with the office of President. However, things have gone so far that the central bank is regarded as a second government in many countries. These comparisons are, of course, unreasonable.