has also managed better than those in many other countries. to some extent this is probably due to lessons learned from our own earlier bank crisis. for example, the banks have avoided so - called structural products with elements of high - risk us mortgages, which were one of the causes of the crisis in the first place. the riksbank ’ s assessment and decision in september at our most recent monetary policy meeting in september we could note that the situation in the world economy had continued to improve, although the strength of the recovery was still uncertain. the public finance problems in certain eurozone countries were still causing some concern and there was uncertainty over the consequences that stricter fiscal policy might have for growth in these countries. but compared with the situation in the spring and early summer, the unease on the financial markets had toned down, partly as a result of the stress testing of the banks by the eu during the summer. growth prospects in the eurozone were in principle thought to be the same as at our meeting in june. however, we could note that the risk of slower growth in the united states had increased and we revised down the forecasts for us growth this year and next year. nevertheless, we envisaged, as before, that the international economic climate would gradually improve. we could also note at the meeting that the recovery in the swedish economy had been more rapid than expected, and our assessment was that the swedish economy would grow more quickly than, for instance, those in the eurozone and the united states. one reason for this, as i have just discussed, is that unlike many other countries, we do not need to tighten policy to correct large budget deficits and debt ratios. world trade had picked up again and this had shown an impact on our exports. moreover, the strong optimism among both households and companies in sweden indicated that domestic demand could be maintained over the coming years. our forecast in september was for gdp growth in sweden of around 4 per cent this year, to be followed by a slower growth rate. this would put gdp in mid - 2011 back at the same level as at the end of 2007, that is, before it began to fall. in september we could once again note that the recovery in the labour market had been surprisingly strong. the new forecast made entailed employment being at the same level as prior to the crisis as early as next year. our assessment of unemployment was that it would fall relatively quickly over the coming quarters and then decrease at a slower rate

shelter. in addition, near - term inflation expectations and wage growth remain elevated, and corporate pricing behaviour is normalizing only slowly. 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches the combined impact of all these pressures on inflation is that we now expect inflation to be about 3½ % through to about the middle of next year. as excess supply in the economy increases, inflation should ease in 2024 and reach 2 % in 2025. overall, inflationary risks have increased since july. the forecast we released last week has inflation on a higher path than we expected last summer. in addition, rising global tensions, particularly the war in israel and gaza, have increased the risk that energy prices could move higher and supply chains could be disrupted again, pushing inflation up around the world. with clearer evidence that monetary policy is working, my colleagues on the bank's governing council and i judged last week that we could be patient and hold the policy rate at 5 %. however, to be confident that our policy rate is high enough to get inflation back to 2 %, we need to see more easing in our measures of core inflation. we will continue to assess whether monetary policy is sufficiently restrictive to restore price stability, and we will monitor risks closely. our decision last week reflected our best efforts to balance the risks of over - and undertightening. we don't want to cool the economy more than necessary. but we don't want canadians to have to continue to live with elevated inflation either - and we cannot let high inflation become entrenched in the economy. if inflationary pressures persist, we are prepared to raise our policy rate further to restore price stability. in summary, we have made a lot of progress reducing inflation, but we are not there yet, and we need to stay the course. when price stability is restored, the economy will work better for everyone. with that summary, i would be pleased to take your questions and begin our discussion. 2 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches