Sweden’s economy expands 0.1% month-on-month in May

Sweden’s economy grew at a monthly rate of 0.1% in May, after contracting 0.7% in April, data by Statistics Sweden showed.

Yet, the nation’s “economic activity remained lower than in the first quarter. Household consumption expenditure continued to weaken while lower imports concerning goods held up GDP,” Mattias Kain Wyatt, economist at Statistics Sweden, said in a press release.

Household spending contracted 0.4% month-over-month in May, or at the same rate as in the prior two months.

In May, consumers spent less on transport and retail sales and service of motor vehicles (-1.3% versus -4.2% in April), restaurants, furniture, furnishings, household equipment & consumables (-0.1% versus -0.6% in April) and housing, electricity, gas & heating (-4% versus 0.8% in April).

The USD/SEK currency pair settled 0.34% lower at 10.4563 on Friday. For the week, the exotic currency pair went down 1.24%, as it reversed a gain from the prior week.