26.02.202110:06:00UTC+00Sweden Retail Sales Rise; Trade Surplus Fall

Sweden's retail sales logged an annual growth in January and the trade surplus decreased from last year, figures from Statistics Sweden showed on Friday.

Retail sales rose 3.1 percent year-on-year in January, after a 0.9 percent decrease in December. In November, retail sales grew 5.5 percent.

Retail sales in durables gained 6.6 percent in January and those of consumables, excluding sales at the state-owned chain of liquor stores decreased 1.4 percent.

On a monthly basis, retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 3.4 percent in January.

The trade surplus decreased to SEK 5.2 billion in January from SEK 11.1 billion in the same month last year. In December, the trade surplus was SEK 1.6 billion.

Exports fell 14.0 percent annually in January and imports decreased 10.0 percent.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the trade surplus decreased to SEK 4.7 billion in January compared with a surplus of SEK 4.8 billion in the previous month.