Sweden GDP, Industrial Production Expands In January

(RTTNews) - Sweden's economy expanded in January after contracting in the prior three months, boosted by growth in household consumption and exports along with rising general government production, data from Statistics Sweden showed on Thursday.

Separate official data showed that industrial production advanced for the second straight month in January.

Gross domestic product rose 2.0 percent monthly in January, reversing a 0.7 percent fall in December.

"Swedish economic activity bounced up in January with growth in both exports of goods and household consumption happening in parallel with increasing general government production," Neda Shahbazi, an economist at Statistics Sweden, said.

On a yearly basis, the economy recovered strongly by 3.6 percent in January, following a 1.5 percent fall in the previous month.

Another report showed that industrial production grew 3.5 percent annually in January, well above the 0.8 percent rebound seen in December.

The upturn was largely driven by a 7.0 percent surge in mining and quarrying output. This was followed by a 3.4 percent rise in manufacturing production.

There was a 5.5 percent growth logged in construction output in January compared to last year, recovering from a 1.4 percent fall observed in December.

Data also showed that total industrial orders slid 10.5 percent annually in January, in contrast to a 22.7 percent jump in the preceding month. Monthly, orders plunged 20.2 percent.

Official data showed that household spending in Sweden rose 0.5 percent year-over-year in January, reversing a 1.8 percent fall in the prior month.

The increase at the start of the year was largely attributed to a 24.8 percent surge in spending on restaurants, cafes, hotels, and other accommodation services sectors.