Swedish economy roars ahead in Q2
Sweden’s economy roared ahead in the second quarter of the year driven by a boom in consumer spending, giving the krona a lift and defying expectations for a moderation in the pace of economic growth in the Scandinavian country.
According to ft.com, Swedish GDP increased by one percent quarter-on-quarter in the three months to June, twice the pace analysts in a Thomson Reuters’ survey expected ahead of the reading on Monday and the largest increase in a year.
Estimates for the growth in the first quarter — which had previously been the weakest quarter for the economy since the third quarter of 2016 — were also revised up by 0.1 percentage point to 0.8 percent, in line with the third quarter of 2017.
At an annual rate, the economy grew 3.3 percent in the second quarter from the equivalent period last year, comfortably beating expectations for a 2.6 percent annual increase.
The krona climbed against the euro from SKR10.3 ahead of the data to as high as SKR10.23, a rise of almost 0.7 percent. Although it has retreated from its May lows around SKR10.6, the krona has not strengthened above SKR10 since late February as caution from the Riksbank about the sustainability of the recovery has left analysts split about whether the central bank will raise rates before its eurozone counterpart.