Riksbank Governor Erik Thedeen said on Tuesday the central bank may lower its policy rate in the first half of 2024 after inflation has slowed in recent months and is on firmer ground.

"Our assessment is therefore that the interest rate appears to have peaked," he said in a statement ahead of a hearing in parliament's finance committee on Tuesday.

"If the prospects for inflation remain favourable, we cannot rule out the possibility of the policy rate being cut during the first half of the year," he said. (Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Louise Rasmussen and Terje Solsvik)