STOCKHOLM, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Sweden's gross domestic product (GDP) shrunk by 1 percent year-on-year in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023 while household consumption decreased for the fourth consecutive quarter, according to statistics released on Tuesday.
Compared to the first quarter (Q1) and seasonally adjusted, GDP dropped 0.8 percent, Statistics Sweden (SCB) said. The figures are slightly more positive than the preliminary ones released in July.
Sweden's Q2 GDP contracted by 2.4 percent year-on-year and by 1.5 percent quarter-on-quarter, the SCB's preliminary figures said on July 28.
"The second quarter of 2023 was generally weak with declines in several of the main components of GDP. Net exports decreased, as did investments in inventories. Household consumption expenditure was negative for the fourth consecutive quarter," Jessica Engdahl, head of section at SCB's National Accounts Department, said in a press release.
Exports decreased by 0.8 percent, while imports rose by 0.1 percent compared with Q1, the SCB said.
Household consumption decreased by 0.2 percent from Q1, and the downturn is mainly explained by decreased expenditure on housing, recreation and culture, the SCB said.
The real disposable income of Swedish households in Q2 was 0.3 percent lower than in the same quarter of last year. Meanwhile, central government consumption increased by 0.8 percent compared with Q1, the SCB said.
Economists at two of Sweden's largest banks, Nordea and Swedbank, told the TT news agency that they expected the country's central bank Riksbank to keep raising the key interest rate level, currently at 3.75 percent, despite the economic downturn.
The European Commission's Economic Forecast, released in February, listed Sweden's economy as the worst performer in the European Union and predicted it to shrink by 0.8 percent in 2023. ■
