NEW YORK, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Swedish central bank Deputy Governor Martin Floden said on Tuesday a decision at the latest policy meeting to tweak guidance for the next rate hike had not been difficult.
The Riksbank last week kept rates unchanged and said it expected a cycle of hikes to kick off "during the second half of the year", against earlier guidance for the middle of the year. "It was an unproblematic change in language, I would say. It is a better description of the forecast..," Floden told reporters during a visit to New York.
At the meeting, Deputy Governor Henry Ohlsson called for an immediate hike, and also entered a reservation against the rate path, in a show of divisions among policymakers.
"He was the only one arguing in favour of an immediate rate hike, and the five remaining members of the executive board we all stood behind the repo forecast that we had published..," Floden said.
(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer in New York, writing by Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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