Sweden’s economy is shrinking.
Gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the previous quarter, and by 0.2 percent compared to the same period a year earlier.
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GDP falls, Statistics Sweden announces
This is according to recent figures from Statistics Norway (SCB).
It is significantly worse than the hopes. The average forecast among analysts was for growth of 0.1 percent compared to the previous month and unchanged GDP compared to the same quarter the year before. This was also evident from the GDP indicator released on 29 January.
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Rising service imports drag down the economy
Falling housing production explains parts of the decline, according to Statistics Sweden. But households have sped up a bit:
“GDP declined for the third quarter in a row. The decline is largely explained by reduced investments in intangible assets and housing as well as rising service imports. After five quarters of reductions, however, household consumption expenditure increased, says Jessica Engdahl, section head of National Accounts at Statistics Sweden in a comment.
It reports Today’s industry.
The economy declined continuously in 2023
It comes as sad news after last year’s third quarter showed happier numbers than expected. Analysts had expected the economy to contract by 0.3 percent, but it shrank by just 0.1 percent.
For the full year 2023, Swedish GDP fell by 0.2 percent compared to 2022.
Inventory investments also raised GDP growth by 0.5 percentage points and the number of hours worked rose by 0.9 hours.
However, the number of working hours in business fell by 0.2 percent, Statistics Sweden reports.
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