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An American CEO Living in Sweden Has a Covid Lesson to Share

An American CEO Living in Sweden Has a Covid Lesson to Share

F. Scott Ball is an American living in Stockholm, from where he runs one of the Nordic region’s biggest groups of shopping malls.

Despite the different (sometimes controversial) Covid strategies across Scandinavia, the 59-year-old says his experience shows how crucial government policy is in shaping the outcome of a crisis.

“I really take my hat off to the governments, particularly in Norway and Sweden,” Ball said in an interview.

An American CEO Living in Sweden Has a Covid Lesson to Share

Ball’s company, Citycon Oyj, operates in an industry that’s particularly vulnerable to the fallout of the pandemic. Fear of catching Covid drove people away from malls, and pushed a lot of retail commerce online.

Against that backdrop, Ball says a couple of steps taken by Scandinavian governments were key. These include a Norwegian grant, which covered up to 90% of fixed costs if shop owners’ sales fell 30% or more, and a Swedish rebate scheme that reimbursed landlords for 50% of any rent relief given to tenants, he said.

Governments “were very proactive in terms of trying to take a holistic approach,” he said. “They put supports and pillars in place to support business through a really difficult time.”

An American CEO Living in Sweden Has a Covid Lesson to Share

Now, footfall at Citycon’s malls is nearing normal levels, and average purchases are actually up on the previous year, indicating there’s less window shopping and more targeted buying, according to Ball.

Trust

From the perspective of an American, Ball says it’s been eye-opening to observe how much trust there is in governments and institutions across the region.

“People in the Nordic countries generally have faith in their government officials and tend to believe that what’s being done is to the greater good,” he said. “I know it’s not the case in my home.”

According to the latest OECD study (2018), more than 50% of all Scandinavian populations trust their governments, compared with less than 35% in the U.S. In Norway, the figure is close to 70%.

Covid Strategies

Strategies for fighting the pandemic have differed across the Nordic region, and Sweden stands out as the most controversial for its decision to leave much of society open. As a result, it also suffered the region’s highest death toll early on in the crisis.

“Living in Stockholm, I’m keenly aware of the approach the country has taken and the response of neighboring countries here and in Europe,” Ball said.

Economists at HSBC Holdings Plc have suggested that generous state support in Sweden, Denmark and Norway looks to have played a bigger role in determining their resilience, rather than specific Covid strategies. All Nordic countries provide access to universal health care and significant unemployment subsidies, resulting in fairly uniform economic outperformance, HSBC noted.

Sweden, Norway and Denmark all face GDP declines this year that are smaller than 4%, according to their central banks. That compares with an 8% contraction for the euro zone, the ECB estimates.

But with a resurgence of infections now spreading across the region, policy makers are warning of an uncertain future. Ball says that “the jury is still out” when it comes to assessing the full cost to human health and safety of the pandemic.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.