Swedish Economy Contracts For Second Month; Industrial Output Falls

(RTTNews) - Sweden's economy shrank for the second straight month in April due to lower household consumption and production in the business sector, data from Statistics Sweden showed on Monday.

Separate official data showed that industrial production decreased in April after rising the previous month.

Gross domestic product declined 0.7 percent month-on-month in April, following a 0.4 percent fall in the prior month.

"Activity in the Swedish economy weakened somewhat during the first month of the second quarter," Melker Loberg, economist at Statistics Sweden, said.

"This is among other things explained by a somewhat lower household consumption and production in the business sector."

On a yearly basis, GDP remained flat in April after rising 0.7 percent in the prior month.

Data showed that household consumption decreased by 0.4 percent monthly and by 0.7 percent annually in April.

Another report showed that industrial production declined 4.4 percent annually in April, in contrast to a 2.0 percent recovery a month ago.

Output produced in the utility sector contracted by 3.0 percent from last year, while service production advanced by 3.2 percent.

Construction output fell 4.9 percent annually in April, though slower than the 8.0 percent plunge a month ago.