Swedish rate-setters agree on balance sheet as primary tool amid virus outbreak

Swedish rate-setters were united on seeing balance sheet measures as currently the best way of conducting policy amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the minutes of the central bank's latest meeting, published on Monday, showed.

"Right now, there are indeed factors that suggest that a policy rate cut would not be an effective way of conducting monetary policy," Deputy Governor Martin Floden said.

At the meeting, the Riksbank kept its package of measures aimed at easing the impact of the novel coronavirus on the economy broadly unchanged and left the benchmark rate at 0%.