Sweden’s Historic Crisis Plan Exposes Central Bank’s Limits
Sweden Pledges Historic Spending Plan After Raising GDP Outlook
(Bloomberg) -- Sweden’s government is embarking on an historic spending spree as it acknowledges there’s now less scope to look to the central bank to provide crisis support.
“It’s a big responsibility that we have, now that the Riksbank’s possibilities are smaller than they have been,” Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson said in an interview in Stockholm on Thursday. “We are in a deep crisis, at the same time as monetary policy doesn’t have the muscle it normally has.”
The Riksbank has made clear it wants to avoid a return to negative interest rates, after ending half a decade of the policy last year. But it’s also sought to reassure the market that it has an adequate toolbox with the room to do whatever it takes to support the economy.
With Andersson’s new spending pledge, talk of more monetary support might now become moot. Sweden’s government is dedicating over 100 billion kronor ($11.5 billion) next year to dragging the largest Nordic economy out of the Covid crisis. She says there will still be a need for “forceful stimulus” in 2022, “perhaps also in 2023.”
Dodging the Worst
Sweden now faces a much milder recession than the euro zone, and Andersson on Thursday raised the economic forecast. Gross domestic product is expected to shrink 4.6% this year, compared to the 6% contraction seen in June. For next year, the government expects a stronger rebound than previously, with GDP set to grow 4.1%.
On Friday, Sweden’s statistics office said the second-quarter GDP data contraction wasn’t as deep as first estimated, with the economy declining 8.3% from the first three months of the year, instead of the 8.6% initially reported. The krona strengthened slightly and was trading about 0.2% higher against the euro as of 9:36 a.m. in Stockholm.
Spending will target public investments across welfare and climate initiatives, Andersson said. Sweden has “an historic opportunity to take measures to create jobs, accelerate adjustments to climate change and improve social services,” she said.
Sweden’s spending plans will leave debt well within limits set by the European Union. Next year, debt will reach 42% of GDP, compared with 35.2% in 2019. That’s less than half the EU average.
Read More: Swedish Covid Plan No Economic Game Changer, Forecasts Show
Covid
The Nordic nation of 10 million people continues to find itself in the international spotlight for sticking with a light-touch lockdown strategy while others adopted more stringent measures to fight the pandemic.
That decision initially saw a spike in the number of Covid-related deaths and infections in Sweden, and the government of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has admitted that more should have been done to protect the elderly in care homes.
But on Thursday, the country’s health agency proposed raising the limit on certain public gatherings to 500 from 50, amid a stabilization in Covid-19 infection rates.
Sweden’s death rate, however, remains among the highest in the world at about 57 per 100,000.
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