Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Thursday​on March 20, 2025 at 5:40 am

Swedish government raises unemployment forecast

The Swedish government believes GDP will grow 2.1 percent in 2025 and 2.8 percent in 2026, according to its latest forecast.

But the job market remains sluggish, albeit with a ray of light on the horizon.

The government’s forecast for this year is that 8.6 percent of people will be unemployed (up from 8.4 percent in its previous forecast). However, it believes the unemployment rate will fall to 8.2 percent next year as the economy improves.

“Even if the economy is turning around and the recovery process has begun, a lot of people are still finding it tough,” Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson told a press conference. “A lot of people are struggling to make ends meet.”

Swedish vocabulary: make ends meet – få ekonomin att gå ihop

One in five Swedes has boycotted a US product

Almost one in five Swedes has boycotted a US brand, according to a fresh study by researchers at Lund University’s Department of Economics and Norstat pollsters, which quizzed 1,000 Swedes aged 18-74.

A majority said they would be willing to swap US products such as Coca-Cola for another brand.

Coca-Cola is the best-selling soft drink in Sweden, and 61 percent of Swedes aged 18-74 have bought it at least once in the past year. Of those, 69 percent would be willing to instead buy another brand of soft drink, the study suggests.

A Swedish campaign to boycott US goods was launched a month ago and now has more than 80,000 members.

Its founder, Jannike Kohinoor, who set up the page, told the DN newspaper that it was born out of a frustration with the political development in the US following the election of President Donald Trump. “For those of us who started the group the frustration is about how a democracy which we in Sweden are allied with can switch position so insanely rapidly.”

Swedish vocabulary: a brand – ett märke

Cleaner who found secret documents quizzed by Säpo

A cleaner who found confidential documents mislaid by former national security adviser Henrik Landerholm has been questioned by the security services, Säpo, reports Dagens Nyheter (DN). Expressen reports that Landerholm will be called to new interrogations.

The cleaner, from Georgia, had previously not been reached but was found by Säpo.

“She has received a number of questions concerning the incident which she has answered,” prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist told DN.

He declined to say what had emerged from the interview.

A few months after the incident, 15,000 kronor was transferred to the cleaner’s account by a Russian citizen who according to Säpo has links to Islamist extremism. It is not known whether the money was linked to the documents, which she found after Landerholm left them behind.

Landerholm, a close friend of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and hand-picked for his role as national security adviser, faces trial over “carelessness with secret information”. He stepped down from his role after an investigation was launched into the highly-classified mislaid documents, which he had left in a locker at Gällöfsta conference centre in 2023.

Swedish vocabulary: a cleaner – en städerska

Swedish government holds talks on countering rising food prices

Swedish government officials are to meet food industry giants on Thursday to discuss soaring food costs and rising consumer anger in the Nordic country.

Food prices rose by 3.9 percent in February from the same month a year earlier, the highest annual rate in two years, according to the country’s official statistics agency.

Independent watchdog site Matpriskollen (The Food Price Checker) found in January that prices in Swedish grocery stores had risen by 19.1 percent over two years.

The rising prices have sparked a viral online campaign calling for a boycott of Sweden’s main grocery chains this week in a bid to get them to lower prices. (AFP)

Swedish vocabulary: rising food prices – ökade matkostnader