Support for inflation target still strong in Sweden

Sixty-three per cent of Swedish adults are in favour of the 2 per cent inflation target, compared with 60 per cent a year ago. The proportion who approve of how the Riksbank conducts monetary policy has risen from 50 to 53 per cent.

These figures come from a recent knowledge-and-attitudes survey commissioned by the Riksbank. The changes are inside the margin of error (±1.4–3.2 percentage points).

The survey, commissioned from Eureka Marknadsfakta AB, involved telephone interviews with about 1,000 persons aged 16–74 years in the second half of December 1997 (weeks 50 and 51). In week 50 the repo rate was raised by the Riksbank from 4.10 to 4.34 per cent. The responses have been compared with those from the corresponding survey in December 1996.

The survey also shows that inflation has negative associations for 51 per cent and positive for only 15 per cent. The corresponding figures in December 1996 were 54 and 21 per cent.

The proportion of Swedish adults who know that the Riksbank's primary objective is price stability has risen from 16 to 25 per cent but it is still the case that 51 per cent are not aware of this.

The Riksbank's ambition is to spread information and knowledge about our contribution—price stability—to creating sustainable long-term growth in the Swedish economy. Media play an essential part in this and we would welcome even more help from them in promoting insights among people in Sweden, particularly outside the major cities, says the Riksbank's information officer, Michael Wallin, in a comment.

The survey, designed to measure the general public's knowledge of and attitude to the Riksbank and to map changes over time, is fully accessible on Eureka Marknadsfakta's home page, www.eureka.se

For further information please contact:

Michael Wallin, Information Officer, phone: +46 8 787 04 18 (Mobile: +46 70 520 97 19)