Riksbank's Ingves: Hard to see rate cut as falling inflation in 2020 mostly due to low energy prices

Sweden's central bank, Riksbank, announced that it left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0% on Wednesday and said the rate is expected to remain at that level during "almost the entire forecast period."

"Both global and Swedish economies have developed in line with Riksbank's forecasts in December and prospects for inflation and economic activity are largely unchanged," the bank said in its policy statement.

Commenting on the bank's policy outlook, Stefan Ingves, Governor of the Riksbank and Chairman of the Executive Board, said it was hard to see a rate cut as falling inflation in 2020 was mostly due to lower energy prices.

EUR/SEK reaction

The Swedish krona gathered strength on these remarks and the EUR/SEK pair fell to its lowest level since the first week of January at 10.4916.