STOCKHOLM, Oct 4: Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said on Thursday companies in Sweden were staying competitive despite the potentially dampening effects of a currency that has scaled multi-year highs.

“In the ‘70s and ‘80s it was often said that we only stay competitive by devaluing the Swedish crown,” Reinfeldt said in an interview with Reuters.

The crown has jumped this year to its strongest level against the dollar since late 1995, thanks in part to a series of interest rate increases by the independent Riksbank.—Reuters