Dramatic decline in activities in the economy in April
| Press releases
Activities in the economy declined dramatically in April compared with the same month last year, according to Statistics Sweden’s new activity indicator. Total decline was 7.3 percent, according to preliminary statistics, although it was greater in individual industries.
The activity indicator for April 2020 is being published in response to the great interest in the effects of the coronavirus crisis on the Swedish economy. This publication is separate from the ordinary statistics production and is based on Statistics Sweden’s economic monthly statistics.
Activities in the economy declined by 7.3 percent in calendar adjusted volumes. The unadjusted volume trend was also 7.3.
Major downward contributions came from household consumption and exports. Declining imports offset the downward trend.
“The goods and services industries both declined dramatically. Government agencies also contributed downward, although not as much. However, there is a great variation between various industries. Some fare worse than others,” says Daniel Lennartsson, statistician at Statistics Sweden.
The statistics are fixed-price calculated and calendar adjusted.
However, there was no calendar effect in April.
Statistics Sweden will publish the monthly activity indicator during the summer with the following publication dates:
| Reference month | Publication |
| May | 2020-07-09 |
| June | 2020-08-06 |
| July | 2020-09-10 |
Facts: The activity indicator
The activity indicator is intended to highlight the collected activities in the Swedish economy in a way similar to the description of growth in GDP. It describes how the Swedish economy has developed on a monthly basis, unlike the quarterly National Accounts. It is based on a considerably smaller material than the GDP calculations and therefore is less reliable.
In order to report a single figure for GDP, a balance of the calculations from the production and use sides is made. This means that one side is adjusted downwards and the other side upwards. Before reconciliation, the statistical material showed that the economic activities, measured from the use side, decreased by 7.0 percent, while the production side noted a decrease of 7.6 percent compared with the corresponding month last year. This led to a reconciled activity indicator of minus 7.3 percent.
Links:
Large downturn in sales in industry
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