Investing.com - Sveriges Riksbank, Sweden's central bank, kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged in negative territory on Tuesday and made no changes to the size of its stimulus program, as policymakers maintain efforts to ward off deflation from taking hold in the largest Nordic economy.
The Riksbank said it was holding the benchmark repo rate at -0.35%, as widely expected. In addition, the bank left its bond buying target at SEK200 billion by the end of June 2016.
In a statement, the central bank said, "The Executive Board remains highly prepared to make monetary policy even more expansionary, even between the ordinary monetary policy meetings. The repo rate can be cut further, which is reflected in the repo rate path, and the Riksbank can purchase more securities."
"The Riksbank is also ready to intervene on the foreign exchange market if the upturn in inflation should be threatened as the result of a problematic market development," it added.
Following the announcement, the Krona added to losses against the U.S. dollar, with USD/SEK shedding 0.8% to trade at 8.4123, compared to 8.4657 ahead of the decision.
The Krona was also down against the euro, with EUR/SEK falling 0.44% to 9.2832 from around 9.3391 earlier.