Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Thursday
Swedish prime minister in Kyiv, new forecast predicts GDP set to fall one percent in 2023, and the wolf hunt just ended. Here's the latest news.
New forecast: Swedish GDP to fall by one percent in 2023
The outlook for the Swedish economy continues to be sombre, with state-owned mortgage bank SBAB predicting that GDP will fall by one percent this year. The reason is fewer property business investments and less household consumption, it writes.
The new report follows another report by the European Commission which predicted that Sweden’s economy will fare the worst out of all EU countries this year.
The downturn is in part intentional: the Swedish Central Bank, the Riksbank, has been hiking the interest rate to slow the economy – and its rampant inflation rate – down.
SBAB argues that the Riksbank should lower the rate towards the end of 2023, as soon as inflation in Sweden moves closer to the bank’s stated two-percent target.
“It is, of course, a difficult balancing act in an, initially, ongoing situation of high inflation, but there are many indications that the Riksbank will still have to place more weight on the increasingly poor real economic development and Sweden’s increasing unemployment, and less weight on what the European Central Bank decides ahead of future interest rate decisions,” said SBAB chief economist Robert Boije in a statement.
Swedish vocabulary: GDP (Gross National Product) – BNP (bruttonationalprodukt)
Swedish PM visits Ukraine
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Wednesday, his first visit to Ukraine since he took over from former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, who travelled to the country last summer.
Sweden agreed last month to send its Archer artillery system as well as armoured vehicles and anti-tank missiles to Ukraine. Kristersson told reporters the weapons were on their way, but declined to give an exact date “for obvious and practical reasons”.
He said he did not rule out sending Sweden’s JAS Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine, but added that such a decision needs to be made in agreement with other western states.
Swedish vocabulary: Ukraine – Ukraina
Swedish wolf hunt ends without hunters reaching full quota
Sweden’s wolf hunt ended on Wednesday, with fewer than the allocated 75 wolves culled. In total, 57 wolves were culled, according to hunting magazine Svensk Jakt.
Hunting is a divisive issue in Sweden. Wolves were declared a protected species in the 1960s, after they were hunted to the brink of extinction, but then populations started growing rapidly in the 1990s.
Sweden began to allow licensed hunts in 2010, with authorities setting a quota for the number that may be killed during a set period.
The Swedish parliament in 2021 voted to cap the population at 270 wolves. According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, around 460 wolves live in Sweden.
Swedish vocabulary: a wolf – en varg
BBC to launch new channel and streaming service in Sweden
The TV channel BBC Nordic and streaming service BBC Nordic + will be available in Sweden from April 17th, the broadcaster announced in a press release on Tuesday.
Viewers will be able to find a lot of popular shows and programmes on BBC Nordic, including documentaries from Louis Theroux, celebrity interviews with Graham Norton, natural history content from Sir David Attenborough, and the cinematic new season of Serengeti.
Furthermore, BBC Nordic will also introduce well-received British lifestyle series, with series of The Great British Bake Off prior to its switch from BBC to Channel 4, alongside similar shows like The Great British Sewing Bee and The Great Pottery Throwdown.
BBC Nordic+ will take the BBC programmes from the linear channel and repackage them into a separate video-on-demand service.
Swedish vocabulary: a TV channel – en tv-kanal
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New forecast: Swedish GDP to fall by one percent in 2023
The outlook for the Swedish economy continues to be sombre, with state-owned mortgage bank SBAB predicting that GDP will fall by one percent this year. The reason is fewer property business investments and less household consumption, it writes.
The new report follows another report by the European Commission which predicted that Sweden’s economy will fare the worst out of all EU countries this year.
The downturn is in part intentional: the Swedish Central Bank, the Riksbank, has been hiking the interest rate to slow the economy – and its rampant inflation rate – down.
SBAB argues that the Riksbank should lower the rate towards the end of 2023, as soon as inflation in Sweden moves closer to the bank’s stated two-percent target.
“It is, of course, a difficult balancing act in an, initially, ongoing situation of high inflation, but there are many indications that the Riksbank will still have to place more weight on the increasingly poor real economic development and Sweden’s increasing unemployment, and less weight on what the European Central Bank decides ahead of future interest rate decisions,” said SBAB chief economist Robert Boije in a statement.
Swedish vocabulary: GDP (Gross National Product) – BNP (bruttonationalprodukt)
Swedish PM visits Ukraine
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Wednesday, his first visit to Ukraine since he took over from former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, who travelled to the country last summer.
Sweden agreed last month to send its Archer artillery system as well as armoured vehicles and anti-tank missiles to Ukraine. Kristersson told reporters the weapons were on their way, but declined to give an exact date “for obvious and practical reasons”.
He said he did not rule out sending Sweden’s JAS Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine, but added that such a decision needs to be made in agreement with other western states.
Swedish vocabulary: Ukraine – Ukraina
Swedish wolf hunt ends without hunters reaching full quota
Sweden’s wolf hunt ended on Wednesday, with fewer than the allocated 75 wolves culled. In total, 57 wolves were culled, according to hunting magazine Svensk Jakt.
Hunting is a divisive issue in Sweden. Wolves were declared a protected species in the 1960s, after they were hunted to the brink of extinction, but then populations started growing rapidly in the 1990s.
Sweden began to allow licensed hunts in 2010, with authorities setting a quota for the number that may be killed during a set period.
The Swedish parliament in 2021 voted to cap the population at 270 wolves. According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, around 460 wolves live in Sweden.
Swedish vocabulary: a wolf – en varg
BBC to launch new channel and streaming service in Sweden
The TV channel BBC Nordic and streaming service BBC Nordic + will be available in Sweden from April 17th, the broadcaster announced in a press release on Tuesday.
Viewers will be able to find a lot of popular shows and programmes on BBC Nordic, including documentaries from Louis Theroux, celebrity interviews with Graham Norton, natural history content from Sir David Attenborough, and the cinematic new season of Serengeti.
Furthermore, BBC Nordic will also introduce well-received British lifestyle series, with series of The Great British Bake Off prior to its switch from BBC to Channel 4, alongside similar shows like The Great British Sewing Bee and The Great Pottery Throwdown.
BBC Nordic+ will take the BBC programmes from the linear channel and repackage them into a separate video-on-demand service.
Swedish vocabulary: a TV channel – en tv-kanal
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