Sweden

This 2016 Article IV Consultation highlights Sweden’s strong economic performance, with real GDP growth heading for about 3.4 percent in 2016 on the heels of an expansion of just over 4 percent in 2015. Employment has increased by 1.5 percent so far in 2016, pushing unemployment down to about 7 percent. Growth is expected to moderate to a still solid 2.4 percent in 2017. The fiscal deficit is expected to be small in 2016, even as migration-related government spending has almost doubled to about 1.4 percent of GDP owing to the surge in refugee inflows in 2015.