STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden’s central bank has decided on a new strategic allocation of the gold and foreign exchange reserves, which includes a few new eurozone countries being introduced into the foreign exchange reserves, it said on Tuesday.
“In addition, the current currency hedging will be maintained,” it said in a statement. “In this way, the Riksbank achieves a good balance between contingency preparedness, risk and return.”
The foreign exchange reserves consist mainly of liquid assets such as government bonds in U.S. dollars and euros.
The Riksbank said it was increasing the share of assets in U.S. dollars in its reserve to 70% from 62% previously, and that it was lowering the share of assets in euros to 17.5% from 22%.
The purpose of the reserve is to provide liquidity support to banks in Sweden, and to be able to intervene in the foreign exchange market, if needed.
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Louise Rasmussen)
