Sweden’s central bank cut its benchmark repo rate by 15 basis points to -0.50 per cent on Thursday and said it had “a high level of preparedness” to ease policy further as inflation remains weak.

"With lower energy prices and rent increases, inflation is expected to be lower in 2016 compared to the forecast from December," the Riksbank said in a statement.

A majority of analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast the Riksbank would cut to -0.45 per cent after a tentative uptick in prices appeared to have stalled and the European Central Bank held out the prospect of easier policy to come.

The Riksbank cut rates three times last year. It left them unchanged in December, but said it was ready to act if inflation flagged.

Reuters