(Bloomberg) -- Sweden’s debt office announced plans to place bets on the krona to strengthen, inserting itself into a debate over whether the central bank has been damaging Sweden with its moves over the past few years to weaken the currency.

The agency will build up a position of as much as 7 billion kronor ($800 million) gradually at various exchange-rate levels, according to a statement.

“Based on the overall picture of the Swedish economy our assessment is that the krona is weak at present and is expected to strengthen eventually,” Hans Lindblad, director general at the debt office, said in a statement.

Sweden’s krona slid to near record lows this year as the central bank prolonged its experiment of negative rates. The bank has been working over the past years to keep the currency weak in order to spur inflation.

The krona gained 0.7 percent to 10.20 per euro as of 9:34 a.m. in Stockholm.

The krona “depreciation has been accentuated in 2018,” the debt office said. “The Debt Office expects the krona to strengthen eventually. By lowering the foreign currency purchases during a period of krona weakness, the cost of the debt can be reduced.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonas Bergman in Oslo at jbergman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.net

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