Free Republic

Stockholm (AFP) – Sweden’s economy shrank 8.6 percent in the second quarter, the nation’s statistics service said Wednesday, even though the country never imposed strict coronavirus lockdowns seen elsewhere in Europe. The fall in gross domestic product (GDP) when compared to the second quarter of 2019 came in at 8.2 percent.According to Statistics Sweden, the downturn represented the largest drop since at least 1980, which is as far back as comparable statistics are available.Sweden’s government is expecting a six percent fall in GDP for the year as a whole — the largest since 1940. The GDP figures presented are preliminary,...

Jim EdwardsOctober 28, 2015 Sweden is shaping up to be the first country to plunge its citizens into a fascinating — and terrifying — economic experiment: negative interest rates in a cashless society. The Swedish central bank held its benchmark interest rate at -0.35% today, the level it has been at since July. Although retail banks have yet to pass on that negative to rate to Swedish consumers, the longer it's held there the more financial pressure there is for banks to pass the costs onto their customers. That's a problem because Sweden is the closest country on the planet...