Swedish krona - SEK

The Swedish krona (SEK) has been Sweden’s national currency since 1873 (separation with Norway and creation of the “Scandinavian Monetary Unit” with Norway and Denmark, a union that lasted until World War I).

A member of the European Union since 1995, Sweden never entered the monetary and economic union of the EU countries because Swedes are still refusing to adopt the Euro, in spite of the Maastricht Treaty that can, in theory, bind them to join the Euro area.

The low Swedish inflation and the good economic health of the country at the beginning of the twenty-first century would have enabled Sweden to participate at the ERM II (Exchange Rate Mechanism II) previous to the integration to the Euro area, but the different Swedish governments technically blocked, until today, their participation in this convergence system between EU countries.

We have to say that Swedes rejected Euro during a referendum in September 2003 (56% said “no” with a polling rate equal to more than 80% of the voters) even if a new referendum maybe favorable (according to polls done in 2009) could take place in 2012.

Before its effective enter into circulation (January, 1st 2002), the Euro tended to increase in value against the Swedish krona; in fact the EUR/SEK cross went from 8.5003 in December 2000 to 9.9631 in September 2001.

Then, the two currencies evolve in a narrow fluctuation band (between EUR/SEK = 8.90 and EUR/SEK = 9.60) until August 2008, when the parity is established on the exchange market at EUR/SEK = 9.3895.

After, the Euro sharply appreciated in the context of the financial and stock-exchange crisis of the Autumn 2008 until an higher point in March 2009 (EUR/SEK = 11.7135) before an about -10% adjustment in few months (EUR/SEK = 10.3355 in October 2009).