Statistics Sweden's recently released data shows that Sweden's foreign trade surplus has grown over the past year, thanks to an increase in exports even as import quantities remained constant.
In February, the trade surplus rose to SEK 9.3 billion, a notable increase from the SEK 7.7 billion reported for the same month the previous year. Though the surplus was at a higher SEK 13.3 billion in January, the growth trend is evident.
The data also reported that exports experienced a 1.0 percent increase in February compared to the same period last year, while import levels did not waver.
Trade balance statistics completely transformed when considering separate data for non-EU and EU countries. The non-EU trade balance revealed a surplus of SEK 25.0 billion in February, whereas trade with the EU resulted in a deficit of SEK 15.7 billion.
Taking seasonal adjustments into account, February's trade surplus amounted to SEK 5.5 billion, down from SEK 6.5 billion in January.
In parallel financial data, household lending saw a stable growth rate of 0.4 percent over the past year, maintained throughout until February.
