Sweden: Staff Report for the 2014 Article IV Consultation—Informational Annex

Sweden’s economy has re-gained speed, following supportive macroeconomic policies and strong household demand. Employment has been rising, but the labor force expanded even more, resulting in higher unemployment mostly among vulnerable groups. Inflation remains very low, driven by external and domestic factors. At the same time, financial stability risks are an increasing concern, reflecting high and rising household debt, accelerating house prices, and Sweden’s very large banking system.

Abstract

Sweden’s economy has re-gained speed, following supportive macroeconomic policies and strong household demand. Employment has been rising, but the labor force expanded even more, resulting in higher unemployment mostly among vulnerable groups. Inflation remains very low, driven by external and domestic factors. At the same time, financial stability risks are an increasing concern, reflecting high and rising household debt, accelerating house prices, and Sweden’s very large banking system.

Fund Relations

(As of June 13, 2014)

Mission: June 2–13, 2014 in Stockholm. The concluding statement of the mission is available at http://www.imf.org/external/np/ms/2014/061314.htm. The staff report will be published.

Staff team: Mr. H. Berger (Head), Messrs. M. Schindler, N. Arnold, and J. Chen (all EUR). Ms. P. Meyersson, Alternate Executive Director (OEDNO), attended for the duration of the mission. Mr. T. Dowling and Ms. J. Colon provided support from headquarters.

Outreach: The team met with the Parliamentary Finance Committee, representatives of the private sector, several large banks, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, which represents blue-collar workers, the National Institute of Economic Research, academics, and the Fiscal Policy Council. The mission held a press conference at the Riksbank after the concluding meeting.

Fund relations: Discussions for the 2013 Article IV consultation were held in Stockholm during May 20–31, 2013 and the staff report was discussed by the Executive Board on August 30, 2013. The Executive Board’s assessment and staff report (IMF Country Report No. 13/276, September 2013) are available at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=40921.0. The Article IV discussions with Sweden are on the 12-month consultation cycle.

Membership Status: Joined: August 31, 1951; Article VIII.

General Resources Account:

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SDR Department:

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Outstanding Purchases and Loans: None

Latest Financial Arrangements: None

Projected Payments to Fund:

(SDR million; based on existing use of resources and present holdings of SDRs):

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Exchange Rate Arrangements:

The Krona has been floating freely since November 19, 1992. Sweden has accepted the obligations of Article VIII (sections 2(a), 3 and 4) and maintains an exchange system free of restrictions on payments and transfers for current international transactions, apart from those notified to the Fund pursuant to Decision No. 144-(52/51).

Resident Representative: None

Statistical Issues

(As of July 21, 2014)

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Sweden: Table of Common Indicators Required for Surveillance

(As of July 14, 2014)

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Any reserve assets that are pledged or otherwise encumbered should be specified separately. Also, data should comprise short-term liabilities linked to a foreign currency but settled by other means as well as the notional values of financial derivatives to pay and to receive foreign currency, including those linked to a foreign currency but settled by other means.

Both market-based and officially-determined, including discount rates, money market rates, rates on treasury bills, notes and bonds.

Foreign, domestic bank, and domestic nonbank financing.

The general government consists of the central government (budgetary funds, extra budgetary funds, and social security funds) and state and local governments.

Including currency and maturity composition.

Includes external gross financial asset and liability positions vis-à-vis nonresidents.

Daily (D), weekly (W), monthly (M), quarterly (Q), annual (A), irregular (I); and not available (NA).

These columns should only be included for countries for which Data ROSC (or a Substantive Update) has been published.

This reflects the assessment provided in the data ROSC or the Substantive Update (published on and based on &, the findings of the mission that took place during…) for the dataset corresponding to the variable in each row. The assessment indicates whether international standards concerning concepts and definitions, scope, classification/sectorization, and basis for recording are fully observed (O); largely observed (LO); largely not observed (LNO); not observed (NO); and not available (NA).

Same as footnote 9, except referring to international standards concerning (respectively) source data, assessment of source data, statistical techniques, assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs, and revision studies.