2018.01.2604:34:00UTC+00Sweden Trade Deficit Widens In December

Sweden's foreign trade gap widened in December from a year ago, figures from Statistics Sweden showed Friday.

The trade deficit rose to SEK 1.7 billion in December from SEK 1.4 billion in the corresponding month last year. In November, the trade balance showed a surplus of SEK 0.4 billion.

Both exports and imports remained unchanged in December from a year earlier.

Trade with countries outside the EU resulted in a surplus of SEK 14.5 billion, while EU trade showed a deficit of SEK 16.2 billion.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the net trade surplus totaled SEK 0.4 billion in December versus SEK 0.5 billion in November.

During the whole year 2017, the net trade deficit of the country was SEK 3.9 billion compared with a shortfall of SEK 14.7 billion in 2016.