Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

ECONOMY

Swedish food prices drop as inflation beats expectations

Inflation in April fell more than expected, according to Statistics Sweden, with the drop even larger once the effect of interest rates is removed from the equation.

Published: 15 May 2023 09:03 CEST
Swedish food prices drop as inflation beats expectations
Food prices are still the biggest driver of inflation on a yearly basis. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

According to the consumer price index inflation measurement (CPI inflation), year-on-year inflation dropped to 10.5 percent in April. Analysts had expected this to stay the same as in March, at 10.6 percent, according to a comparison of prognoses carried out by Bloomberg.

Inflation according to the CPIF measurement, which removes rising interest rates on mortgages from the equation, stood at 7.6 percent in April compared with 8 percent in March, with analysts having predicted this would remain at 8 percent.

Underlying inflation, which is CPIF inflation with the cost of high energy prices removed, fell to 8.4 percent in April compared with 8.9 percent in March. Again, this was lower than expected – the average prediction from analysts for April was 8.7 percent.

Price increases in April were also lower than expected compared with the month before. Compared with March, prices went up 0.5 percent in April. This was 0.1 percent less than in March and 0.1 percent less than predicted.

April was also the first month which saw a drop in food prices since November 2021, with a dip of 1.2 percent in April compared to March.

Fruit and vegetables saw the largest price decreases, falling 3.9 percent and 5.4 percent respectively in April.

Cucumbers in particular saw a drop of 31 percent in a month, with a 5 percent drop in the last 12 months.

Despite these falls, food prices are still the largest driver of inflation on a yearly basis, with a price increase of 17.5 percent in the past year.

Member comments

  1. “Swedish food prices drop as inflation beats expectations”. I’m sorry but that is a very misleading headline. The prices for food did not “drop”, they increased by less than in previous months. It’s really poor economics to misinterpret the simplest of financial figures like that.

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

POLITICS

Sweden still ‘a land of possibilities’ for foreigners says finance minister

Sweden's finance minister, Elisabeth Svantesson, has defended her government's decision to make cuts to some services used by foreigners, saying the country remains a 'land of possibilities' for newcomers.

Published: 28 September 2023 12:29 CEST
Sweden still 'a land of possibilities' for foreigners says finance minister

Asked by The Local at an event in Malmö whether her government was hostile to foreigners, following cuts to funding for organisations like ABF, which among other thing teach Swedish to people who can’t study SFI, and also to the ethnic associations research shows can be an important tool for integration, Svantesson said Sweden still offered a lot to immigrants. 

“If you put it all together, we do an enormous amount to make sure that people from other countries can come in [to society], she said. “We take action upon action, and I’d argue that Sweden is a ‘land of possibilities’ for those from another country.”

She conceded, however, that the budget was being cut for folkbildning, the term for popular adult education organisations like ABF – which is linked to the Social Democrat party – or Medborgarskolan, which is linked to the Moderate Party. 

“Yes, the money for folkbildning is reduced, absolutely,” she said. “But there’s still a lot of money left.” 

She then ran through the ways in which Sweden was in fact very generous to foreigners newly arrived in the country. 

“You get free Swedish lessons at SFI [Swedish for Immigrants], and if you’re an asylum seeker, you can even get paid to study Swedish. We have the etableringsjobb [introductory jobs], which together with the unions and employers we are very keen to get going as soon as possible.” 

She added that education in Sweden was completely free, with some even paid to study.

So to argue that her government was “hostile to foreigners”, she concluded, was way off the mark. 

“I feel very confident, and secure and certain that anyone who truly wants to get on can go extremely far in Sweden.”  

The event, an informal meeting with the Moderate Party in Malmö on Wednesday evening, rounded off a day in which Svantesson had toured Skåne together with Sweden’s Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, vising an old people’s home in Åhus and a school in Broby. 

The intention was clearly to show that the government was concerned about the ability of municipalities and regional governments to fund education and healthcare, even though both regions and municipalities have complained that the extra funding they received in the budget last week is insufficient to cover the impact of inflation. 

The meeting, which was intended as “an open audience” with the two politicians, was attended by activists from the Extinction Rebellion protest group.

One after another, they interrupted the proceedings with statements about the increased emissions resulting from decisions taken by the government, several then sang a song, with each in turn dragged away by plain clothes police officers. 

An activist from Extinction Rebellion is dragged off the stage by security guards after interrupting the proceedings. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
SHOW COMMENTS