Sweden Retail Sales Rise; Trade Balance Swings To Surplus
(RTTNews) – Sweden’s retail sales grew the most in eight months in October, and the trade balance swung to a surplus, figures from Statistics Sweden showed on Friday.
Retail sales rose 3.6 percent year-on-year in October, following a 2.7 percent increase in September.
The latest growth in sales was the highest since February, when it was 4.7 percent.
Retail sales in durables gained 0.9 percent in October and those of consumables, excluding sales at the state-owned chain of liquor stores increased 0.1 percent.
On a monthly basis, retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent in October. Economists had expected a 0.1 percent rise.
The trade balance registered a surplus of SEK 4.7 billion in October versus a deficit of SEK 3.9 billion in the same month last year. In June, the trade surplus was SEK 3.5 billion.
Exports fell 6.0 percent annually in October and imports decreased 12.0 percent.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the trade surplus decreased to SEK 4.9 billion in October, compared with a surplus of SEK 4.7 billion in the previous month.
