Swedish economy likely to post 3.2% growth in FY 2015

Sweden economy growth rate in Q3 and Q4 is expected to slow somewhat compared to the strong first half of the year. Nevertheless, this still translates to a GDP growth of above 3% for FY 2015.

As for components, it is mainly fixed investment and export of services that are stronger than previous estimated, while the forecast for government consumption is revised downwards.

Recent figures from the Labour Force Survey have been better than expected. As a consequence, the forecast for employment has been revised upwards by 0.2% point to 1.3% for 2015.

Strong growth and rising resource utilization give the Riksbank some leeway. However, the risk for SEK getting stronger than the Riksbank can accept is still looming.

"We have updated our forecasts on GDP and employment in connection with our regional report published today. The broad based growth is now seen above 3% for this year. The economy's growth rate for FY 2015 has been raised to 3.2% from 2.8% in the Economic Outlook from early September. The forecasts for 2016 and 2017 are roughly unchanged. The reason for changing the forecast is the upward revision of the outcome for H1 2015", says Nordea Bank.