Sweden's deflation fight seen beyond central bank's control

Stockholm

AS Sweden's Riksbank looks for new ways to fight deflation, a banker who once worked there says the likelihood it will succeed is looking increasingly remote.

"I find it hard to believe that they will achieve the goal of weakening the krona to boost inflation," Robert Bergqvist, chief economist at Scandinavia's biggest currency trading bank, SEB AB, and a former researcher at the Riksbank, said.

Even after resorting to negative policy rates and quantitative easing to weaken the krona, the Riksbank has failed to rid Sweden of persistent bouts of deflation. In an effort to step up its attacks against price declines, the bank says i…