In June, the country's GDP decreased by 0.2 percent, seasonally adjusted compared with the previous month, according to the preliminary compilation of the GDP indicator.
At the same time, for the quarter as a whole, GDP was 1.4 percent higher than in the previous quarter.
"The Swedish economy declined slightly in June after three months of continuous growth. The strong development in previous periods means that economic activity for both June and the second quarter as a whole is at levels clearly above the corresponding periods last year despite the recent downturn," says Mattias Kain Wyatt, economist at Statistics Sweden, in a press release.
“Positive surprise”
Alexandra Stråberg, chief economist at Länsförsäkringar, still interprets the figures positively.
Based on the figures for the second quarter, they will end up higher, at 1.4 percent, than the expected 0.7 percent, she says.
Today's figures are a positive surprise in terms of GDP, she says.
Consumers less pessimistic
Despite the economic slowdown, important factors are shining through that indicate that Sweden is on the right path, argues Stråberg. For example, the consumer price index is good and consumers have cautiously begun to loosen their purse strings.
Consumers are a little less pessimistic, she says.
Despite this, Stråberg does not dare to give a bright forecast for the future. The Middle East crisis and an oil price that goes up and down are creating an unstable situation that is crucial for the inflation risk going forward.
If we do not get a solution to the Middle East conflict, it could affect inflation and thus also the Swedish Central Bank and the interest rate, she says.
Her forecast on an annual basis is growth of 2 percent.
Sweden is in a recession, partly because unemployment is still high. But we are in a strong recovery phase, she says.
Corrected: In a previous version there was an incorrect statement about the quarterly rate. The correct figure should be 1.4 percent.
