the value of all cash payments. the value of all card payments is almost twice that of all cash withdrawals. in comparison with our nordic neighbours, we previously used cards to a lesser extent in sweden. this is no longer the case ; cards are now used to more or less the same extent in sweden, denmark and finland. in sweden ’ s case this means that we have really caught up since the beginning of the millennium when we used cards only half as much as these nordic neighbours. 1 cards are still used to a greater extent in norway than in the other nordic countries. all - in - all, this development means that the use of cards has now reached such a level throughout the nordic region that a serious disruption that affects the entire card system, or large parts of the system, would have serious consequences for the ability of people to make speech by lars nyberg ( 2008 ) : “ paying is expensive – are we using too much cash? ”. payments. cash could no longer replace cards if the card systems were to break down. if card payments do not work, then the entire payment system will not work satisfactorily either. the riksbank ’ s responsibility for a safe and efficient payment system therefore means that we also have an interest in ensuring that card payments work safely and efficiently. to get more up - to - date information and to learn more about how the swedes pay, the riksbank conducted a survey towards the end of last year. the aim of the survey was to determine how people choose between different means of payment and the factors that affect these choices. as similar surveys were conducted in 2006, we also wanted to see whether the payment patterns had changed over the three years between the surveys. according to the surveys conducted in 2006, approximately half of the interviewees used cards as the means of payment for at least 80 per cent of all purchases. 2 today, almost twothirds of the interviewees use cards as the means of payment for all purchases. the great majority of the interviewees in the autumn survey, 95 per cent, had a debit card. a much smaller percentage, 40 per cent, had a credit card. debit cards were used in 96 per cent of all card payments. this is an increase since the survey in 2006, when debit cards were used for 80 per cent of all card payments. credit cards thus seem to have become relatively less important – at least in terms of the number of payments. despite the fact

irma rosenberg : monetary policy with our own interest rate path speech by ms irma rosenberg, first deputy governor of the sveriges riksbank, at a lunch meeting arranged by ohmans, stockholm, 8 june 2007. * * * introduction let me begin by thanking you for the invitation to come here and speak about monetary policy. today i would like to take the opportunity to talk about some issues that are important to me. i would like to explain why i considered that the repo rate should be kept unchanged at the most recent monetary policy meeting. i shall also comment on some of the views we at the riksbank have received with regard to our forecast of the interest rate path. but i intend to begin with a few words on the changes in our monetary policy communication which were decided by the executive board recently. changes in the monetary policy communication since the inflation target was introduced, the riksbank has tried in different ways to become more open and clear with regard to how monetary policy is conducted. we have gradually published more and more of the background information used for our decisions, in particular the forecasts for inflation and economic developments in general. the decision to publish our own forecast for the repo rate, which we took at the beginning of the year, was a natural continuation of this process. in mid - may we decided to implement some further changes to become even clearer in our monetary policy communication. from now on, we will hold press conferences after each monetary policy meeting, regardless of what decision has been taken. until now we have only held a press conference if the repo rate has been adjusted or if we have published a monetary policy report. but to understand the monetary policy conducted, it is equally important to explain why the repo rate has been held unchanged as to explain why the repo rate has been changed. by publishing our own interest rate forecasts and by holding press conferences after each monetary policy meeting we will provide more detailed and more regular information on the considerations taken by the executive board. we have also decided to make changes in our way of signalling. by signalling i mean how we communicate our monetary policy intentions. previously, when we executive board members have gone out and talked about the current economic situation between the monetary policy meetings we have sometimes given indications of how we consider the repo rate should be set at the next meeting. this has been on the condition that it is clear that the points of view expressed are the individual member ’ s. the idea was that