Swedish Economic Confidence Falls Slightly In April

(RTTNews) - Sweden's economic confidence decreased further in April to the lowest level in six months, and consumers expressed a more pessimistic outlook, survey results published by the National Institute of Economic Research showed on Tuesday.

The economic tendency index dropped to 94.8 in April from 95.0 in March. Moreover, the index was below the normal level of 100.

The survey revealed that significantly more firms than in March reported difficulties in predicting future business conditions.

The index measuring confidence in the manufacturing sector rose to 99.6 from 96.7. Nonetheless, industrial firms' assessments of profitability deteriorated, reaching the lowest level since mid-2020.

The index for the retail sector confidence improved somewhat to 105.1 from 104.7, while firms remain significantly more dissatisfied with profitability than normal.

Similarly, the confidence index for the service sector increased marginally.

The survey showed that consumer confidence weakened to a 16-month low of 81.6 in April from 88.8 in the previous month as all components of the indicator weakened, with consumers showing a markedly increased pessimism regarding both their own finances and the Swedish economy.