Swedish growth fires in 2015; smaller rises for Denmark, Finland

STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s gross domestic product (GDP) jumped 4.1 per cent in 2015, a sharp increase from a year earlier, while Denmark managed a rise of 1.2 per cent and Finland posted a small but unexpected rise of 0.4 per cent , official figures showed Monday.

Swedish exports helped drive a fourth- quarter increase of 4.5 per cent , Statistics Sweden s a id, b e at ing ana ly s t s ’ forecasts.

“This is the fi fth quarter with a steady rise,” the Swedish national statistics office said.

Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank, had forecast overall growth of 3.7 per cent for 2015, after it rose by 2.1 per cent in 2014.

The Swedish economy was supported by strong investment which increased by 7.3 per cent in 2015, including export growth of 5.9 per cent and robust household consumption.

“As for GDP components, all underlying components surprised on the upside in Q4 ... underlining that growth is broad based,” said Andreas Wallstrom, chief analyst at Nordea Bank.

“Publ ic consumption was probably lifted as a result of the inf lux of refugees. The immigrant situat ion wi l l probably boost government consumption and GDP also in the coming quarters,” he said.

Earlier this month, the Swedish central bank cut its key interest rate by 15 basis points to an alltime low of - 0.5 per cent , citing the risk of slowing inf lation and falling confidence in its monetary policy. — AFP