Swedish central bankers are in no rush to let go of pandemic response measures despite a strong economic recovery and above-target inflation, the minutes of their most recent policy meeting showed on Thursday, While they saw the risks of moving too early to tighten policy as greater than those of being too slow, a cautious shift may be coming. “A few members discussed a rate path that could indicate a rate rise at the end of the forecast period,” the Riksbank’s statement said. Similar views were also expressed by some of the central bankers in the previous policy meeting. A couple of policymakers also mentioned the option of allowing the Riksbank’s balance sheet to shrink next year. “Compared to the July meeting, the Riksbank has clearly moved, from a risk of cutting rates to a discussion about exit from the stimulus measures,” Nordea analyst Torbjorn Isaksson said in a note. The Swedish economy has bounced back from the pandemic faster than many other European countries and inflation is expected to top 3% next year, well above the 2% target. But the Riksbank currently believes price pressures will recede when bottlenecks and supply problems related to the pandemic ease and a surge in energy prices fades. “It is too early yet to change course,” Governor Stefan Ingves said in the statement. The central bank announced no major changes in policy on Sept. 21, though it said it would wind up lending programmes launched during the pandemic. With economies gradually opening up, many central banks are starting to plan for when and how to normalise monetary policy. Neighbour Norway has already hiked rates and flagged more to come. The European Central Bank could announce the end of its emergency bond purchases in spring next year. In Sweden, COVID-19 restrictions have mostly ended and the economy is already back to its pre-pandemic size. The Riksbank’s asset purchase programme is due to end this year and it expects its balance sheet to be unchanged in 2022. The benchmark repo rate is expected to remain at 0% until at least the third quarter of 2024.