instance, the risk of contagion effects and the fact that inflation can become entrenched, as i mentioned earlier. both in sweden and abroad there are many examples of inflation remaining high when growth slows down or falls. compared with the assessment we made in july, we made a downward adjustment in our forecast for the future repo rate. new statistics indicated that both global and swedish economic activity had weakened sooner than expected and we therefore revised down our forecasts for growth. given this, i considered that we have now completed our interest rate increases. i expected that the next stage will be a cut and that monetary policy will ease slightly during 2009. i think it is difficult to claim that the interest rate path we presented in september is too strict. the interest rates are not particularly high, either from an historical perspective or in comparison with many other countries with a floating exchange rate. resource utilisation, the good public sector finances and the surplus on the current account provide us with a good starting point. the swedish economy has the necessary requirements to meet both a limited downturn in economic activity and growth around the long - term average towards the end of our forecast horizon, at the same time as attaining the inflation target. in addition, the current interest rate provides some support for the exchange rate. this has some value with regard to meeting the inflation target. a few final words let me just very briefly summarise what i have talked about today. the riksbank strives constantly both to attain the inflation target and to manage its task of safeguarding financial stability in the best possible way. if we succeed, we provide stability in the swedish economy, particularly in times when there is international turmoil. we will probably have to live with the financial market turbulence and the crisis in the united states for a good while to come. it is too early yet to be able to foresee when this will all be over. however, what we can say is that it will take time. the next occasion when we will be weighing together all of the new information received and assessing how these developments affect the prospects for growth and inflation is at our next monetary policy meeting at the end of october. until then we will of course continue to follow developments very closely and to have regular contacts with banks, market participants and other government agencies. we are constantly trying to include all important information in our analyses. this is the way we always work, and it applies to both financial stability and monetary policy. let me conclude with

krona. the platform was initially built with the function of being able to settle payments even in other currencies than the euro, 8 see reducing the risk of wholesale payments fraud related to endpoint security, cpmi papers no 178, bis 2018. 5 and our assessment is that there is no technical obstacle to settling payments in swedish krona there. moreover, it doesn't cost anything to join tips over and above the adaptations the riksbank and the market need to make to their it and communication systems. joining the platform involves the central bank wishing to participate entering into an agreement with the ecb and the eurosystem. if the riksbank decides to use tips, the settlement of instant payments in swedish krona will thus take place in italy, where the platform is located. as the riksbank would then be outsourcing the operation of the system to an external party, the tips operations must meet the requirements made by swedish legislation. in addition to these requirements, the outsourcing process would also raise a number of broader issues regarding national self - determination. it may be worth reminding you that the swedish payment infrastructure is already dependent on external parties. let me give some examples : rix has been procured from a south african company, the settlement of swedish securities takes place in euroclear ’ s technical system in france, swedish banknotes are printed in the united kingdom, the communication network used to send payment orders between swedish financial institutions, which is required for instance when customers make normal cash withdrawals, is owned by an international cooperative society with its headquarters in belgium ( swift ) and card transactions in sweden are cleared through two american corporations. the idea of a swedish payment mechanism that can function without links to other countries has long been outpaced by reality and it would be just as unrealistic to imagine, for instance, that the swedish pharmaceuticals industry could meet all the needs of the swedish health service. the challenge for a small country like sweden lies instead in being able to benefit from international cooperation by choosing counterparties that are reliable in the long term and with whom we have good relations, such as the ecb. although sweden does not have the euro as its currency, the riksbank has long had a deep collaboration with the ecb on central bank issues. countries such as finland, denmark and our baltic neighbours consider that platform sharing with the eurosystem is a secure solution. i believe it would work well for sweden, too. 9 another question