Swedish Trade Surplus Shrinks In April; Retail Sales Rise Further

(RTTNews) - Sweden's foreign trade surplus decreased in April from a year ago amid weaker exports, while retail sales increased for the third straight month, separate reports from Statistics Sweden showed on Wednesday.

The trade surplus dropped to SEK 6.6 billion in April from SEK 7.1 billion in the corresponding month last year. In March, there was a surplus of SEK 11.2 billion.

The value of both exports and imports declined by 7.0 percent each in April compared to last year.

The non-EU trade balance showed a surplus of SEK 27.5 billion in April, while the trade balance with the EU revealed a deficit of SEK 20.9 billion.

The volume of retail sales rose 0.9 percent monthly in April, after a 0.7 percent gain in March. Sales in durables grew 1.3 percent, and those in consumables rose by 0.8 percent. The annual retail sales growth accelerated to 5.3 percent from 3.2 percent.