2nd quarter: Sweden's GDP jumps 3.7%!

Swedish economy shows other EU nations that swift recovery's do-able. 

  • Although consumption of food posted negative growth, household spending as a whole added 1.3 percentage points to GDP. Photo: Nicho Södling - Stockholm Visitors Board
  • Blowing away the banking world's guesswork, and setting the bar high that challenges other European Union nations' financial policy makers, Sweden posted an increase of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of this year of 3.7% compared to the last year's same period.

  • Household consumption grew by 2.6% in the second quarter of 2010. Photo from the shop at the Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm / Nicho Södling - Stockholm Visitors Board.
  • The whopping economic score, measured and confirmed by the respected Swedish bureau of statistics, SCB, also showed a growth of 1.2% from the previous, first quarter of this year. However, the upswing worried experts that the nation's national bank would continue to pile on interest rates this autumn. This would not only cool potential inflation but moreover act detrimentally upon mortgage payments in the sensitive home and apartment markets.

  • Household consumption grew by 2.6% in the second quarter of this year, and automobile purchases were among largest factors influencing this result. Although consumption of food posted negative growth, household spending as a whole added 1.3 percentage points to GDP growth.

  • Exports - primarily external trade in goods - increased by 14% and imports by rose 18%. Output in the economy grew by 5.2%. Goods production rose by 9.8%. Service output grew by 2.8%. The number of hours worked grew by 0.6% and the number of employed increased by 0.4%.