Statistics Sweden is currently publishing the activity indicator to provide early data on the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the Swedish economy. This publication does not form part of the ordinary statistics production and is based on Statistics Sweden’s economic monthly statistics.

The increase in economic activity in September makes it the fourth consecutive month with positive developments.

“Recovery has been particularly strong in the industrial sector, where several industries now show positive annual growth rates,” says Melker Loberg, statistician at Statistics Sweden.

Economic activity has increased since June (seasonally adjusted volume growth and index level)

Activity in the economy was 2.9 percent lower in September 2020 than in September 2019, in calendar-adjusted volumes. The corresponding unadjusted figure was minus 1.7 percent. The largest contribution to the decline in annual rates comes from household consumption on the use side. On the production side, the decline is mainly explained by the lower production of services.

Further information on the development in the business sector is available in the production value index

Statistics Sweden will publish the monthly activity indicator on the following dates:

Further information about the third quarter is available in the GDP indicator

Facts: The activity indicator

The activity indicator is designed to highlight the collected activities in the Swedish economy in a way similar to the description of growth in GDP. It describes how the Swedish economy has developed on a monthly basis, unlike the quarterly National Accounts. The indicator is based on a considerably smaller material than the GDP calculations and therefore is less reliable.

In order to report a single figure for GDP, a balance of the calculations from the production and use sides is made. This means that one side is adjusted downwards and the other side is adjusted upwards. Before reconciliation, the statistical material showed that economic activities, measured from the use side, decreased by 2.9 percent, while the production side noted a decrease of 0.5 percent compared with the corresponding month a year ago. This led to a reconciled activity indicator of minus 1.7 percent.

Links

Time series for the activity indicator (Excel file)

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