The GDP indicator provides an early picture of the development of the gross domestic product, GDP. It is compiled on a monthly and quarterly basis with more limited and preliminary statistics than the regular quarterly national accounts. The monthly version of the indicator lies outside the official statistics and is classified as statistics under construction.

"Activity in the Swedish economy increased in March following contractions in January and February which brings us back to levels of activity similar to the end of last year", says Neda Shahbazi, economist at Statistics Sweden.

Balancing and revisions

In a first step, the GDP indicator calculates two separate GDP outcomes from the production and use sides of the economy. Then a reconciliation is made in which one side is adjusted downwards and the other side is adjusted upwards to arrive at a single final result. Before reconciliation, the statistical data in March showed actual GDP development from the use side of 3.1 percent and corresponding development from the production side of 4.8 percent, compared with the corresponding month a year ago. In line with standard balancing procedures, this results in a reconciled actual change in GDP of 4.0 percent. For the quarter as a whole, non-adjusted GDP development was 1.4 percent for the use side and 1.8 percent for the production side compared with the corresponding quarter a year ago. This resulted in actual GDP growth of 1.6 percent.

March had one additional working day compared to the corresponding month of the preceeding year while the first quarter as a whole had the same amount of working days as the same quarter of the preceeding year.

In accordance with the revision policy for the GDP indicator, only months in the current quarter have been revised.

Additional information

Time series and revision history for the GDP indicator.

For more information about the indicator, see Compilation of the Swedish GDP indicator.