Statistics Sweden is currently publishing the activity indicator to provide early data on the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the Swedish economy. This publication does not form part of the ordinary statistics production and is based on Statistics Sweden’s economic monthly statistics.

“Progress in January indicates a continuation of the more modest recovery we have seen since August,” says Mattias Kain Wyatt, statistician at Statistics Sweden.

Household consumption turned upwards in January, seasonally adjusted and compared with December, following two months of decreases in consumption. More information on household consumption can be found in the Monthly indicator of household consumption.

Economic activity indicator (seasonally adjusted volume growth and index level)

Activity in the economy was 2.9 percent lower in January 2021 than in January 2020. The month had two working days less compared with the previous year. In non-calendar-adjusted figures, activity decreased 5.4 percent compared with January 2020.

Changes to publication coming in April

In conjunction with the publication of reference month February on 8 April, several changes in the publication format of the indicator will be introduced to bring it in line with standard Statistics Sweden procedures.

Publication will be moved to 09:30 and the format will transition to a statistical news release under the product page National accounts other, with a corresponding statistical database table under the same heading. At the same time, the activity indicator will change name to GDP indicator, monthly.

Release dates for the remainder of the year are available in the Publishing calendar. The indicator will continue to be classified as statistics under development and does not form part of the official statistics.

Facts: The activity indicator

The activity indicator is designed 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. The indicator is based on a considerably smaller material than the GDP calculations and therefore is less reliable.

In order to report a single figure for economic activity, 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 is adjusted upwards. Before reconciliation, the statistical material showed that economic activities, measured from the use side, decreased by 5.5 percent, while the production side noted a decrease of 5.2 percent compared with the corresponding month a year ago. This led to a reconciled non-adjusted change in activity of -5.4 percent.

Links

Time series for the activity indicator (Excel file)

Monthly indicator of household consumption

National accounts other

Publishing calendar

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