Statistics Sweden (the SCB, Statistiska centralbyrån) released the numbers on the economy this morning. Sweden’s second quarter GDP (BNP, bruttonationalprodukt in Swedish), compared to this time last year was lower than expected, and came in at 1.4%. The Swedish central bank (Riksbanken), whose measures the governnment uses for its work, thought it’d be 1.8%. So that’s not so great but perhaps not a signal to freak completely out.
Sweden’s 2nd quarter GDP wasn’t better than 1st quarter numbers either, unfortunately – it was lower by 0.1%. Again, the Swedish Fed thought (hoped?) differently, namely that it would increase by 0.1% compared to 1st quarter. It seems their algorithms might need to be recalibrated.
No great cause for economic alarm here, just more evidence that the economy isn’t going gangbusters anymore, or likely anytime soon. It seems instead like we’ll be muddling through for a bit – barring a no-deal Brexit, in which case things will become much more unsettled.