Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

ECONOMY

Swedish car sales on the rebound

Sales of cars in Sweden increased by 37.4 percent in January compared to the same month last year, while truck sales climbed for the first time since July 2008, new statistics from industry group BIL Sweden show.

Published: 1 February 2010 13:49 CET
Swedish car sales on the rebound

“New car registrations increased dramatically in January and confirm the trend that we have seen in recent months with a recovery in the car sector,” said Bertil Moldén at BIL Sweden.

“At the same time we have to bear in mind that January last year was a very weak month affected by the recession as well as the finance crisis.”

Moldén explained in a press release that the boost in car sales showed that the Swedish economy was heading in the right direction.

“Increased car sales boost growth and employment and is positive from both an environmental and road safety perspective as it contributes to a renewal of an ageing Swedish car pool,” he argued.

During January 15,523 new cars were registered, a climb of 37.4 percent on January 2009.

Truck registrations climbed 5 percent over the period to 2,290. Light trucks (up to 3.5 tonnes) increased by 22.7 percent while sales of heavy trucks (above 16 tonnes) continued to fall, down 50.4 percent.

Sales of eco-cars continued to increase, up 50.2 percent in January. This corresponds to 36.2 percent of all new car sales, up from a market share of 33.1 percent in January 2009.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

ECONOMY

How is Denmark’s economy handling inflation and rate rises?

Denmark's economy is now expected to avoid a recession in the coming years, with fewer people losing their jobs than expected, despite high levels of inflation and rising interest rates, The Danish Economic Council has said in a new report.

Published: 30 May 2023 15:46 CEST
How is Denmark's economy handling inflation and rate rises?

The council, led by four university economics professors commonly referred to as “the wise men” or vismænd in Denmark, gave a much rosier picture of Denmark’s economy in its spring report, published on Tuesday, than it did in its autumn report last year. 

“We, like many others, are surprised by how employment continues to rise despite inflation and higher interest rates,” the chair or ‘chief wise man’,  Carl-Johan Dalgaard, said in a press release.

“A significant drop in energy prices and a very positive development in exports mean that things have gone better than feared, and as it looks now, the slowdown will therefore be more subdued than we estimated in the autumn.”

In the English summary of its report, the council noted that in the autumn, market expectations were that energy prices would remain at a high level, with “a real concern for energy supply shortages in the winter of 2022/23”.

That the slowdown has been more subdued, it continued was largely due to a significant drop in energy prices compared to the levels seen in late summer 2022, and compared to the market expectations for 2023.  

The council now expects Denmark’s GDP growth to slow to 1 percent in 2023 rather than for the economy to shrink by 0.2 percent, as it predicted in the autumn. 

In 2024, it expects the growth rate to remain the same as in 2003, with another year of 1 percent GDP growth. In its autumn report it expected weaker growth of 0.6 percent in 2024.

What is the outlook for employment? 

In the autumn, the expert group estimated that employment in Denmark would decrease by 100,000 people towards the end of the 2023, with employment in 2024  about 1 percent below the estimated structural level. 

Now, instead, it expects employment will fall by just 50,000 people by 2025.

What does the expert group’s outlook mean for interest rates and government spending? 

Denmark’s finance minister Nikolai Wammen came in for some gentle criticism, with the experts judging that “the 2023 Finance Act, which was adopted in May, should have been tighter”.  The current government’s fiscal policy, it concludes “has not contributed to countering domestic inflationary pressures”. 

The experts expect inflation to stay above 2 percent in 2023 and 2024 and not to fall below 2 percent until 2025. 

If the government decides to follow the council’s advice, the budget in 2024 will have to be at least as tight, if not tighter than that of 2023. 

“Fiscal policy in 2024 should not contribute to increasing demand pressure, rather the opposite,” they write. 

The council also questioned the evidence justifying abolishing the Great Prayer Day holiday, which Denmark’s government has claimed will permanently increase the labour supply by 8,500 full time workers. 

“The council assumes that the abolition of Great Prayer Day will have a short-term positive effect on the labour supply, while there is no evidence of a long-term effect.” 

SHOW COMMENTS