'Tougher times': Sweden's economy to slow next year

A combination of record high energy prices over the winter, rising interest rates, and inflation at around 10 percent, is set to hit household spending power over the autumn and winter, leading to lower sales for businesses and dragging economic growth down to just 0.5 percent next year. This is down from the 1.2 percent the institute had forecast for 2023 in its spring forecast. 

"I don't want to be alarmist," Ylva Hedén Westerdahl, forecasting head at the Swedish National Institute of Economic Research, said at a press conference announcing the new forecast. "We don't expect the sort of economic slowdown that we saw during the financial crisis or the pandemic, where unemployment rose much more. But having said that, people who don't have a job will find it tougher to enter the labour market." 

She said that a shortage of gas in Europe over the winter, will push electricity prices in Sweden to twice the levels seen last winter, while the core interest rate set by Sweden's Riksbank is set to rise to two percent. 

As a result, Sweden's unemployment rate will rise slightly to 7.8 percent next year, from 7.7 percent in 2022, which is 0.3 percentage points higher than the institute had previously forecast. 

On the plus side, Westerdahl said that she expected the Riksbank's increases in interest rates this year and next year would succeed in getting inflation rates in Sweden under control. 

"We expect a steep decline in inflation which is going to return to below two percent by the end of 2023," she said. "That depends on whether electricity prices fall after the winter, but even other prices are not going to rise as quickly." 

After the press conference, Sweden's finance minister, Mikael Damberg, said he broadly agreed with the prognosis. 

"I've said previously that we are on the way into tougher times, and that is what the institute confirms," he told Sweden's state broadcaster SVT. "There's somewhat higher growth this year, at the same time as fairly high inflation which will hit many households and make it tougher to live."

Damberg called on Sweden's political parties to avoid making high-spending promises in the election campaign, warning that these risked driving up inflation. 

"What's important in this situation is that we don't get irresponsible when it comes to economic policy," he said. "Because when parties make promises left, right and centre, it risks driving up inflation and interest rates even more, so Swedish households have an even tougher time. Right now, it's important to prioritise." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The call 

 

 

 

"Electricity prices are going to be twice as high as last winter," said 

Elpriserna kommer att bli dubbelt så höga som förra vintern, säger Ylva Hedén Westerdahl, chef för Konjunkturinstitutets prognosavdelning, på en pressträff.
Den lågkonjunktur som KI ser framför sig kallar hon trots det för en mjuklandning. Den handlar främst om att människor kommer att ha mindre pengar att konsumera.

 

"Brist på gas i Europa gör att energipriserna ser ut att bli rekordhöga under vintern", skriver KI, och ser att inflationen kommer att närma sig 10 procent.

Deras prognos för styrräntan är att den ligger på 2 procent vid årsslutet, vilket gör att inflationen faller tillbaka snabbt under nästa år och Riksbanken låter då räntan ligga still.

KI tillägger att de offentliga finanserna är fortsatt starka och de bedömer att det finns ett budgetutrymme på runt 120 miljarder kronor för de kommande fyra åren.

Vad gäller BNP spår KI en blygsam tillväxt på 0,5 procent nästa år – en nedskrivning från tidigare 1,2 procent.

Prognosen för arbetslösheten under 2023 är 7,8 procent, 0,3 procentenheter högre än tidigare prognos.

Fredrik Fahlman/TT
Johanna Ekström/TT