Sweden's central bank expands bond purchase program by $7.6 billion

STOCKHOLM – Sweden's central bank says it will expand its bond purchase program by 65 billion kronor ($7.6 billion) to help the economy and nudge inflation toward the 2 percent target.

Wednesday's announcement means the Riksbank's bond-buying will reach 200 billion kronor by the middle of 2016.

The Riksbank said it's pursuing expansionary policies "to underpin the positive development in the Swedish economy and safeguard the robustness of the upturn in inflation."

Analysts said the move was in response to the potential of more stimulus measures in the eurozone, of which Sweden is not a member. Stimulus tends to weigh on a currency, and a rise in the Swedish krona against the euro would have hurt exporters and weighed on inflation.

The bank kept its key interest rate at negative 0.35 percent.