'Good growth prospects' for Sweden

The Swedish economy is growing and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future, said the recent monthly barometer report from the National Institute of Economic Research released Monday.

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“Sweden's economy shows continued robust growth and the upswing extends across a broad front,” the report said. “Both the manufacturing and construction industries report an increase in orders and larger production volumes.”

The May report also said the retail sales sector reported strong figures and demand for private service firms had also gone up. Employment has increased and construction firms are beginning to have problems recruiting suitable labour.

The report said those working with retail trade, construction, and transport are on the way up. The business situation is also strong for those working with machinery, electrical machinery, rentals, real estate, land transport and hotels and restaurants.

The Institute said the business situation is weak for those in the food and beverage industry and for those in the tobacco industry.

Consumer confidence remained optimistic in May. The Consumer Confidence Indicator (CCI) increased in May and has been at levels during the past five months unseen since 2000.

Klas-Göran Warginger, an economist at the Institute, said he sees consumer confidence remaining strong for the rest of the year.

“Swedes are slowly becoming more optimistic about their own economies and the nation’s economy and they think unemployment will go down,” he said. “The (consumer confidence) level is increasing. This tells me Swedes will probably consume more in the future.”