SEB’s economists have cut their 2012 GDP growth forecast for Sweden 0.4 percentage points to 1.0 per cent as expectations for eurozone growth have come down. Furthermore, household consumption is showing signs of being less resilient to the downturn than previously expected.
In general, Swedish data over the last two months has been mixed. On the one hand sentiment indicators have to some extent been disappointing, on the other hand hard data have held up well.
In the near term SEB’s experts forecast third quarter 2011 growth of 0.4 per cent from the second quarter and 3.4 per cent from the year-ago quarter.