Swedish economy continues to grow: report

The Swedish economy grew a faster-than-expected 1.4 percent in the second quarter, compared with the first three months of the year, official data showed Monday.

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"The figures are much stronger than expected. That shows the impressive resilience of the Swedish economy," Nordea analyst Torbjörn Isaksson told the TT news agency.

The figures also showed that household spending in Sweden grew by 0.8 percent over the second quarter of 2012. Housing costs rose while transport expenses fell, according to Statistics Sweden (Statistiska centralbyrån – SCB).

Compared with a year earlier, the Swedish economy has grown by 2.3 percent, according to the figures.

Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had put second quarter growth at just 0.2 percent on a month-on-month basis and 0.7 percent on a year-on-year comparison, respectively.

Exports took the lead, gaining 1.7 percent, according to Statistics Sweden.

The government in April slashed its 2012 growth forecast from 1.3 percent to 0.4 percent because of the deteriorating eurozone debt crisis.

In 2011, Sweden's economy grew by 3.9 percent though it contracted by 1.1
percent in the fourth quarter on a quarterly basis.

Despite the more optimistic figures, Swedes are gloomy about the economy according to a survey carried out by research company Skop, which shows that one in three Swedish households think that worse is yet to come.