The Swedish economy expanded 1.0 percent in the third quarter compared with performance in the previous three months, the central statistics bureau reported Friday, citing seasonally corrected figures.
Gross domestic product grew by 4.4 percent in the 12 months from third quarter 2005.
Annual growth in the second quarter was revised upward to 5.3 percent from a previously estimated 5.1 percent.
The statistics office attributed third quarter momentum to household spending and inventory adjustments.
A technical problem at Sweden's Swedbank on Thursday night gave customers a nasty surprise, with their account balances inexplicably going negative, payments impossible, and Swish payments no longer working.
By 11.30pm, more than 2,000 Swedbank customers had reported the fault to the site Downdetector, and the problem was still not solved by 17.00pm on Friday.
“We have an ongoing IT disruption where certain customers see an incorrect balance on their accounts,” a message on the bank’s app read. “The reason is a planned update to our internal systems which went wrong. We apologise, of course, for that and are working as quickly as possible to fix the problem.”
The Swish payment service has also been affected, with the service, which is owned collectively by Swedish banks, reporting on its site that there was a “technical disruption at Swedbank and Sparbank which might affect Swish payments from these banks”.
Some Swedbank customers posted their negative account balances on Twitter, expressing shock at the incorrect figures.
@Swedbank What the fuck is going on!?!?! Over -1,200,000 SEK?! pic.twitter.com/0iSZiaYN2k
— ✨ Dust (@AirRoseSea) April 29, 2022
haha nice prank @Swedbank can I have my money back now?
— Catrys (@Catwys) April 28, 2022
The disruption comes at the worst possible time for many Swedes. Many people are paid on the 25th of the month, meaning this Friday marks the start of the payday weekend. Many will have also scheduled their bill payments for this Friday.
Marko Saric from Malmö saw his account balance drop by 1.2 million kronor, going half a million kronor into the red.
“It’s just totally crazy,” he told SVT. “We were going to go out and shop for the weekend. It’s lovely weather and the kids want to go out, but we can’t use our card. We’ve got no cash. Everything is in the bank.”
“You’re just completely blocked. Colleagues need to make emergency food parcels for you. It’s just crazy that something like this should happen.”
In its statement, the bank assured customers that their money was “secure”, and that the bank still had the correct information on what their account balance should be.
“Customers who feel that they have suffered economic damage as a result of the disruption should contact the bank,” the message said.
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