this so far? i will go through each of these points, but let me first add that i am expressing my personal reflections here, well aware of the fact that it can be difficult from a distance to reflect over events when you are right in the middle of them. it is possible that my colleagues in the executive board of the riksbank agree with much of what i say, but it may also be the case that they have a different opinion in some issues. 3 it may be worth noting that sweden, together with countries like australia, new zealand, canada and norway, belongs to a group of small open economies with floating exchange rates and inflation targets that have relatively similar challenges and problems : via free capital movement, we have imported low real interest rates, there is downward pressure on inflation via, among other things, globalisation, private debt is high and there are problems on the housing market. 2 when you have to choose between “ leaning against the wind ” and the inflation target one of the conclusions from the global financial crisis is that financial factors and conditions must be given higher priority in economic analysis and be considered to a greater extent when designing economic policy. above all, the crisis was a signal that greater effort must be made to avoid financial imbalances causing problems on the macro level. the most concrete expression from this was the emergence of macroprudential policy, which, in contrast to traditional supervision of individual banks and financial institutions, focuses on the entire financial system and the economy as a whole. 4 some of the discussion has been about the extent to which monetary policy should be used to counteract the build - up of financial imbalances, for example a substantial and sustained credit expansion. a monetary policy that “ leans against the wind ” may contribute to greater stability in the longer term, as the purpose of trying to prevent financial imbalances from building up is that they should not cause problems with financial or macroeconomic stability at some point in the future. most people agree that monetary policy should not have the main responsibility for preventing financial imbalances, but that this should rest on micro - and macroprudential policy and a well - designed regulatory framework. a central issue is, however, what support to prudential policy and the regulatory framework monetary policy needs to provide so that they can fulfil their tasks. 5 i do not believe it is possible to completely ignore financial stability when conducting monetary policy. different views in research and among central banks there is on the one

circumstances, it is also a policy that in practice is difficult to maintain when confidence in the inflation target is under threat. concerning the intensive debate about the riksbank ’ s policy, my conclusion was that it can be useful to have a system where the monetary policy remit and policy objective are reviewed at regular intervals, as is currently the case in for example canada. this would create better understanding and legitimacy for the monetary policy conducted and clarify that the central bank actually only performs the remit it has been given. i also believe it can be a way to counteract the forces that seem to exist in many parts of the world to make central banks less independent. as regards the decline in cash use, there are not so many conclusions to draw as yet. what we can say for certain is that an e - krona would affect the conditions for monetary policy quite substantially, more or less regardless of how it is designed. it is wise that many countries are examining the scope for introducing e - money, as one of the lessons that after all can be learnt from developments in sweden is that cash use in society can decline very rapidly. these were the experiences and reflections i wanted to share with you. perhaps the conclusions i draw are not that spectacular. but i would like to believe that the observations and experiences that we practitioners and economic policy decisionmakers make in our day jobs, so to speak, slowly but surely help to enhance the level of our collective knowledge. my hope is that this could at least be a small contribution to this development. 15 references adrian, tobias and nellie liang ( 2018 ), “ monetary policy, financial conditions, and financial stability ”, international journal of central banking 14 ( 1 ), pp. 73 - 131. armelius, hanna, paola boel, carl andreas claussen and marianne nessen ( 2018 ), “ the e - krona and the macroeconomy ”, economic review 2018 : 3, sveriges riksbank. ball, laurence m. ( 2014 ), “ the case for a long - run inflation target of four percent ”, working paper wp / 14 / 92, imf. bank of canada ( 2016 ), “ renewal of the inflation - control target ”, background information ”, october 2016, bank of canada. blanchard, olivier, giovanni dell ’ ariccia and paolo mauro ( 2013 ), “ rethinking macro policy ii : getting granular ”, imf staff discussion note 13