A split Swedish Riksbank has held its main interest rate steady in a bid to help boost economic activity and increase inflation back up to the target level, while containing high and rising household debt.

The Riksbank's executive board left the Repo rate unchanged at 1.0%, reiterating its intention to keep it there until the end of 2014. Two members, Karolina Ekholm and Martin Flodén, advocated a 25-basis point cut, and expressed a desire to keep the rate at 0.75% until the second quarter of