This leads to increased price competition and to inflationary pressures being lower temporarily. But despite the rapid technological changes, the productivity growth figures have fallen both in Sweden and abroad. 3 We are becoming increasingly aware of the problems linked to climate change. This also contributes to changing our consumption and production patterns. The adjustment to such changes may be difficult and may also lead to the measured GDP growth being lower. But this adjustment can also in many ways lead to new markets and new opportunities opening up and to new, large-scale investment needs arising. Why are economies slowing down now? We would normally believe that structural changes occur slowly and that they therefore should not be behind a rapid change in the sentiment of the economy. But there are nevertheless many indications that the subdued economic growth and the rapid fall in confidence shown by the indicators over the past year have several links to the structural changes. When the number of trade barriers increases, the opportunities to benefit from economies of scale and international specialisation decline. The uncertainty regarding the rules for international trade dampens the willingness to invest. The uncertainty regarding future regulations and taxation of, for instance, diesel and petrol driven cars reduces demand for them. The intensive discussions on the climate impact of air travel may dampen demand for air travel. In Sweden, for instance, travel by domestic flight has declined. Monetary policy cannot affect these structural changes or ensure that we attain a certain level of economic growth.

But to attain a higher yield and reduce the financial risk, the Executive Board has decided that a limited part of the foreign exchange reserves can be invested in other assets. The condition is that these are assets with a high credit rating and good liquidity, issued by central governments, provinces or intergovernmental organisations. 11  9 In addition, the Riksbank owns 125.7 metric tons of gold (worth almost SEK 60 billion). 10 The government has given the Swedish National Debt Office the task of issuing green bonds. See the Swedish Ministry of Finance (2019) and SOU (2017:115). 11 Our regulations also allow investments in US agencies and in bonds issued by local authorities or state-guaranteed organisations. 5 [7]  The Riksbank gives consideration to the climate in its investments Last year we stated in our risk and investment policy that we would also give consideration to sustainability aspects when choosing assets. The Riksbank has not yet fully decided how sustainability aspects should be taken into consideration in the investment decisions. There are two main lines to choose between: either we choose which assets or which issuers we want to have in the foreign exchange reserves. The choice between assets would mean trying to invest some of the foreign exchange reserves in particularly climate-friendly assets, such as green bonds. I have doubts about this type of strategy, primarily as our investments are largely in bonds issued by central and federal governments. It is difficult to earmark money for special projects in government budgets.