Sweden Surprise Inflation Drop Backs Rate Pause, Dents Krona (2)

Sweden’s core inflation unexpectedly eased to its slowest pace in more than four years, triggering a weakening of the currency as investors pared expectations for interest-rate hikes from the Riksbank.

The CPIF inflation rate excluding energy declined to 1.1% in March, its lowest since July 2021, according to a preliminary release from Statistics Sweden on Tuesday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of analysts was 1.5%, the same as the Riksbank’s projection.

The reading shows that the war in Iran is yet to cause inflationary effects in Sweden and is set to ease any pressure on the ...