What it is
The currency of Sweden, an open economy that exports vehicles, machinery, telecommunications equipment, timber and paper. Sweden is in the European Union and has kept its own currency.
Who issues it
Sveriges Riksbank issues the krona and sets the policy rate through its Executive Board. Founded in 1668, it is commonly described as the oldest central bank in the world.
How it is commonly described
- Risk-sensitive
- Commonly rises when investors are confident and falls when they are cautious.
Sweden lives by exporting manufactured goods, so the krona is often read as a gauge of world trade and of confidence in general. It is a smaller market than the majors.
These are descriptions people use, drawn from how the currency has commonly behaved. They are not promises about how it will behave.
What typically moves it
- Riksbank policy, and how it compares with policy in the euro area
- Demand in the euro area, where much of what Sweden exports is sold
- The world manufacturing cycle
- Risk appetite in world markets
- The housing market: Swedish households borrow heavily, much of it at rates that change quickly
These are the things people who follow this currency usually watch. They explain how the market works; they do not say what the exchange rate will do next.
The scheduled releases to know
- Monetary policy decisionPublished by Sveriges RiksbankExplainer: Rates
- Consumer prices, including the fixed-interest-rate measure the Riksbank targetsPublished by Statistics SwedenExplainer: CPI
- Gross Domestic ProductPublished by Statistics SwedenExplainer: GDP
- Labour Force SurveyPublished by Statistics SwedenExplainer: Jobless rate
- Economic Tendency SurveyPublished by National Institute of Economic Research
No dates or figures are shown here: each publisher’s own calendar is the authority. The explainers are in Economic Events; a release without a link has no explainer on this site yet.
Its main session
London. The krona is traded mainly in European hours, most often against the euro.
At GIO4X
A short history
The krona was introduced in 1873, when Sweden and Denmark formed the Scandinavian Monetary Union. In November 1992, in the European currency crisis of that year, Sweden gave up its fixed exchange rate and let the krona float. In a referendum in 2003 voters decided against adopting the euro.
Words worth knowing
A reference page. Educational information, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. It gives no exchange rate, no interest rate and no forecast.