Sweden Economic Confidence At 18-Month High

(RTTNews) - Sweden's economic confidence improved in March to the highest level in one-and-a-half years, survey results published by the National Institute of Economic Research showed on Tuesday.

The economic tendency index climbed to 93.1 in March from 90.7 in the previous month.

Further, this was the highest reading since September 2022, when it was 93.7.

The confidence indicator for the service sector improved the most among business sectors, rising by 3.1 points to 93.8 in March. The increase stemmed from both expectations for demand over the next three months and firms' views of their performance over the past three months.

The morale of the manufacturing industry rose somewhat to 98.7 in March from 98.4 in February, but still remained below normal.

Meanwhile, the confidence indicator for the construction industry dropped by 2.1 points to 92.6.

The survey showed that the consumer confidence index strengthened to 87.5 in March from 83.0 in February. Consumers were optimistic about the outlook for the economy over the next year, though much more negative than normal about its performance over the past twelve months.