The policy rate affects everything in a society

The Swedish CPIF began to increase during the end of 2021 to literally rush during the second half of 2022.

It took until May 4, 2022 that Riksbanken announced that they were raising the key interest rate from 0% to 0.25%, which was the opposite of the then Riksbanken Governor Stefan Ingves's statement as recently as April 2021 quote "Riksbanken estimates that the key interest rate will remain at 0% until 2024" unquote. Riksbanken then carried out 7 further increases to finally top out with a policy rate of 4%. Our current Riksbanken Governor Erik Thedéen, who took office on 1 January 2023, carried out 4 of these 7 increases.

In my opinion, much of the blame must be placed on our former central bank governor Stefan Ingves for the deep recession we are in right now. The way he handled his task of reaching the 2% inflation target created a perfect storm for Sweden's citizens. Despite applying negative interest rates during a boom, he failed to meet the inflation target in 201 of his 204 months in office. Stefan Ingves was late in his decisions and schooled in a different spirit of the times.

A recently published survey commissioned by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority called Financial well-being and general health in Sweden shows that almost every third adult in Sweden has had or is having difficulties paying their current bills in the past year.