Carl Liverstam retweetledi
The most underrated economy in the Western world right now is Sweden.
I’m not being patriotic, I’m looking at the numbers.
GDP growth forecast for 2026: 2.7%. That’s ahead of the US, the entire Euro area, UK, France, and Germany. Not by a little.
Government debt at 34.8% of GDP. The Euro area sits at 88.5%. The US is at 125%. We have fiscal room that most Western governments would kill for.
Budget deficit at -2.4%, the tightest in the peer group. France and the UK are running -5.5%. The US is at -7%. And Sweden’s deficit is partly Spring Budget expansion from a low-debt base, not structural weakness.
Inflation at 1.6%, below the Riksbank’s 2% target. Core ex-energy is around 1.1%. The Riksbank is paused at 1.75%, one of the lowest policy rates in the developed world.
I know the political conversation in Sweden often feels like everything is broken. Some things genuinely are.
And part of it is that media has a Sweden story it likes (crime gang rape!!!) and this doesn’t fit it.
But the macroeconomic position? It’s strong. Stronger than almost anyone in our peer group.
The uncomfortable question is what we actually do with that position. Because fiscal space only matters if someone uses it.
I would hit the gas, and let Sweden build and thrive.
Finansdepartementet@FinansdepSv
Finansminister @ElisabethSvan har presenterat vårbudgeten för 2026. I ett prövande och oförutsägbart omvärldsläge står Sverige starkt, och återhämtningen i svensk ekonomi har påbörjats. Regeringen fortsätter nu bygga ett starkare och tryggare Sverige. Läs mer via länken nedan.
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