Swedish Economy Shrinks Unexpectedly

2025-05-30 06:27 By Joshua Ferrer 1 min. read

The Swedish economy shrank by 0.2% on a quarterly basis in the three months to March 2025, defying expectations of a 0.1% expansion and stagnant flash estimates.

The latest result marked the first contraction since the fourth quarter of 2023, slipping from a downwardly revised 0.5% growth in Q4 amid a decline in fixed investments (-3.8% vs 0.7% in Q4), notably buildings and facilities.

Also, household spending fell for the first time in almost a year (-0.2% vs 0.6%), while government spending was unchanged (at 0.1%).

Meanwhile, net trade contributed positively to the GDP, as exports (1.8% vs 1.2%) rose more than imports (0.3% vs -0.1%).

On a yearly basis, the GDP advanced by 0.9% in Q1, slowing from 2.4% in the previous quarter, which had marked the fastest pace of growth since the third quarter of 2022.



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