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ECONOMY

Foreign tourists drawn to Sweden by weak krona (and that’s both good and bad)

Sweden's weak krona could attract more tourists to the country this summer – which could have both a positive and a negative impact.

Foreign tourists drawn to Sweden by weak krona (and that's both good and bad)
Pedestrians at the Strandvägen street in central Stockholm. Photo: Jessica Gow/TT

A good thing for the Swedish economy. When tourists with high purchasing power spend their money in Sweden, they create jobs and growth for the tourism industry, which has a positive effect on the country’s GDP, the main metric to measure a healthy economy.

A bad thing for Swedes holidaying at home, as the influx of foreign tourists may push up prices at hotels and restaurants.

“And that would then show in inflation figures and could make it tougher for Swedish households to holiday at home,” Torbjörn Isaksson, chief analyst at banking giant Nordea, told Swedish news agency TT. “But I don’t want to exaggerate that effect,” he said.

German and French people have, thanks to the euro, increased their purchasing power in Sweden by 30 percent since 2014, according to TT.

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Brits also have more money to spend in Sweden than they used to, with the pound rising 23 percent on the krona in ten years.

And for Americans, the dollar has increased 62 percent in value compared to the krona. One dollar now costs 10.70 kronor, compared to just above 6.80 kronor ten years ago.

That’s of course if you get paid in euros, pounds or dollars. If you’re a German, French, Brit or American who gets paid in kronor in Sweden, you will find that not only did your holiday in Sweden get more expensive, but you also have less money to spend when you go back home to visit friends and relatives.

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MONEY

Stockholm exchange fined 100 million kronor for insider trading lapses

Sweden's financial watchdog said on Wednesday it had fined the Stockholm stock exchange 100 million kronor for failing to detect and report suspected insider trading.

Stockholm exchange fined 100 million kronor for insider trading lapses

The Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) said it had investigated “four major company events in 2021 and 2022”, as well as two other cases of trading of financial instruments in 2022 and 2023.

“The investigations show that, in conjunction with the four company events, there have been deficiencies in how Nasdaq Stockholm has conducted its trading monitoring, which should prevent, identify and report insider dealing,” the FSA said in a statement.

The four companies were identified as food retail company ICA, Lundin Energy, tobacco producer Swedish Match and vehicle safety product maker Haldex.

“The investigations also show that Nasdaq Stockholm on two occasions initiated trading in financial instruments in violation of the regulatory framework,” the FSA added.

The authority said the violations were not serious enough to warrant withdrawing the exchange’s authorisation.

It said it was therefore issuing “a remark and an administrative fine of 100 million kronor”.

“Exchanges must comply with the regulations that exist to prevent, detect and report insider trading. It is ultimately about confidence in the financial market,” FSA director general Daniel Barr said.

Nasdaq Stockholm said in a statement to AFP that it took the matter “very seriously”.

“We maintain our position that we had sufficient capabilities to detect insider dealings,” it said, adding that it would assess the FSA’s “interpretation of our obligations and its implications.”

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