Swedish Retail Sales

In a report released by SCB – Statistics Sweden,  official data showed on Tuesday that  retail sales in Sweden posted a surprising decline for last month. Swedish Retail Sales dropped to a seasonally adjusted figure of -0.2%,  a sharp decline from the 1.1% recorded in January, whose figure was actually revised up from the 0.7% previously registered. The disappointing data from Sweden, the world’s 22nd largest economy, meant that February saw the lowest level of retail sales in Sweden for six months. The figure came after analysts had been expecting Swedish Retail Sales to post an increase of 0.5% for last month.

Year-on-year sales increased 3.9 per cent in March, which although in positive territory, comes after analysts had been expecting a rise of 4.2 per cent. This follows a revised 4.7 per cent increase in January, whose figure was up from an originally-stated 4 per cent.

Despite recording the weakest growth since August 2015, there were positives. Sales of durable goods increased 6 percent , with those of consumables rising 1.2 percent.