During the height of the COVID-19 outbreak in Sweden, the country did not adhere to standard lockdown measures and rather kept businesses open to mitigate economic fallout. However, Sweden’s economy still suffered alongside its European counterparts. Sweden saw its economy shrink 8.6% in the April-to June period from the previous three months, but other EU nations who took stricter measures fared much worse.
This represents Sweden’s largest quarterly fall in at least 40 years. During the same period, the EU saw a contraction of 11.9% while Spain, France, and Italy were hit the hardest, contracting by 18.5%, 13.8%, and 12.4% respectively. Although Swedish businesses have remained in operation throughout the global pandemic, the contraction is likely due to the country’s high dependence on exports, which suffered due to a lack of demand abroad.
Read More: Coronavirus: Sweden’s economy hit less hard by pandemic
