Expert: The economy is not as bleak as the government says – Swedish Radio

Expert: The economy is not as bleak as the government says – Swedish Radio

It was a rather gloomy economic forecast by the government and the finance minister Magdalena Andersson unveiled this morning. Although in many parts of line with expectations considers Jan Häggström, chief economist at Svenska Handelsbanken, the situation is not quite as bad as the government would have it.

– Man does his best to paint a gloomy picture of state finances, but even there, I think we stand out very negatively because most governments in Europe now have a much bigger problem Sweden. I think this will be the image forward also says Jan Häggström.

By 24 October, the government present his budget proposal and presented today Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson government’s economic forecast for the term. And according to Jan Häggström, chief economist at Svenska Handelsbanken, consistent with the rather well with his and the bank’s own forecast. For example, growth is expected to increase next year. Different makes, however the view of unemployment.

– The government believes in a fairly rapid decline in unemployment and we are a little reluctant to do so. Although it created a lot of new jobs it will come out a lot of new people on the labor market and it holds back the decline in unemployment, says Jan Häggström.

Another chief economist, Pär Magnusson, at Royal Bank of Scotland – also think he government’s economic forecast is reasonable, but he does not believe a tight economic policy with higher taxes is the way to go.

– Rather, we should focus on to have higher public spending and perhaps even lower taxes and make investments that are much needed in the community, says Pär Magnusson.

Something as finance minister Magdalena Andersson pushed hard on was that the previous conservative government surrendered so mangled that Sweden’s economy at risk be criticized by the European Commission for breaching the Stability Pact. But think Pär Magnusson is more about political games are real concerns.

– Is there anything that appears to be obsolete by now, it is the EU’s stability pact. Furthermore, Sweden meets EU stability requirements with ease, says Pär Magnusson.

Joseph Bjorklund
josef.bjorklund@sverigesradio.se