2018.03.2706:33:00UTC+00Swedish Economy To Strengthen Further: NIER

The Swedish economy will continue to strengthen and the global economic upswing will drive up exports, the Stockholm-based state-run think tank said in its Swedish Economy Report, released Tuesday.

Nonetheless, the agency downgraded its growth projection slightly for 2018 to 2.9 percent from 3 percent.

The growth is seen at 2.1 percent in 2019, in line with earlier estimate. It is forecast to slow to 1.6 percent in 2020 and 1.5 percent each in next two years.

Wage growth will accelerate gradually due to large labor shortages, but inflation will not reach 2 percent until 2020, the institute said.

Inflation is forecast to slow to 1.7 percent in 2018 before rising to 2 percent next year and 2.7 percent in 2020 and 2021.

In December, the agency projected 1.7 percent inflation this year, 2.3 percent next year and 2.9 percent in 2020.

The Riksbank will not begin to raise the repo rate until the first quarter of 2019, the NIER said.