Sweden

• Anthem: «Du gamla, du fria» is the de facto national anthem of Sweden.
• Official languages: Swedish.
• Geographical location: it is a Scandinavian Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north and Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund, a strait at the Swedish-Danish border. At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the largest country in Northern Europe, the third-largest country in the European Union and the fifth largest country in Europe by area.
• Administrative divisions: Sweden is a unitary state divided into 21 county councils (landsting) and 290 municipalities (kommuner).
• Capital: Stockholm.
• Governance: Sweden is a parliamentary representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the government, led by the Prime Minister of Sweden. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament, elected within a multi-party system. The Judiciary is independent, appointed by the government and employed until retirement. Sweden is a monarchy.
• Population: 10.2 million.
• Currency: Swedish krona.
• GDP: $551,2 billion.
• Time zone: UTC +1, UTC +2.
• Telephone code: +46.
• Barcode: 73.

Economic situation (2018): 

• GDP — $551.2 billion;
• GDP growth — 2.3%;
• GDP per capita — $54.2 thousand;
• inflation — 2.3%;
• export — $165.9 billion;
• import — $170.0 billion;
• main export items: engineering and metal products, automobiles, pulp and paper, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, wood, electronic equipment;
• main import items: engineering products, petrochemical industry, vehicles, iron and steel, plastics, food.

Currently, the sectoral structure of the Swedish economy as a contribution to GDP is as follows: services — 69%, industry — 29%, agriculture — 2%.

Like other relatively small industrialized countries, Sweden is very dependent on foreign trade to maintain its high labor productivity and standard of living. 

Since 2018, Belarusian-Swedish trade, economic and investment cooperation has been activated.

Dynamics of trade in goods between Belarus and Sweden in  2014 — 2020 (million US dollars)

In 2020, trade between Belarus and Sweden amounted to $131.1 million (growth rate — 84.4% compared to 2019). Exports amounted to $35.3 million (78.7%), imports — $95.9 million (87.7%). The negative balance is -$60.6 million. 

The basis of Belarusian exports was:

• Potash fertilizers;
• Fuel wood;
• Other furniture and parts thereof;
• Peat;
• Communication equipment and parts for it;
• Animal or vegetable fats and oils for technical or industrial use;
• Linen fabrics;
• Bars of unalloyed steel;
• Longitudinally sawn timber;
• Salt;
• Furniture for seating and its parts;
• Seeds for sowing;
• Devices on liquid crystals;
• Lasers;
• Trailers and semi-trailers;
• Toys and puzzles.

The main imports from Sweden were:

• Turbojet and turboprop engines and gas turbines;
• Equipment for agriculture; gardening, forestry;
• Trucks;
• Flat alloy steel;
• Tractors and tractor units;
• Artificial and prepared waxes;
• Ethylene polymers;
• Liquid pumps;
• Forklifts.

The leading positions in it are occupied by investment and intermediate goods, demanded in the process of modernization of the Belarusian economy and necessary for the production of competitive finished products.

In January 2019, trade between Belarus and Sweden amounted to $9.6 million (growth rate — 91.7% compared to the same period in 2018). Exports amounted to $4.6 million (101.0%), imports — $5.0 million (84.5%). The negative balance decreased by $1.0 million to -$0.4 million. The basis of Belarusian exports was potash fertilizers, fuel wood, other furniture and parts, peat.

The export of services to Sweden in 2018 amounted to $20.3 million (growth rate — 111.9% compared to 2017). The main export positions were occupied by computer, transport and other business services. Import of services — $8.8 million (92.8%). The balance for Belarus was positive in the amount of $11.6 million (+$2.8 million compared to 2017).

In January 2019, export of services to Sweden amounted to $1.4 million (growth rate — 132.0% compared to the same period in 2018). The basis of exports was computer services. Import of services — $0.3 million (168.1%). The balance for Belarus was positive in the amount of $1.1 million (+$0.2 million compared to the same period in 2018). 

In 2018, the volume of Swedish investments in Belarus amounted to $39.4 million (growth rate — 105.4% compared to 2017), of which direct — $12.7 million (93.4%), direct on a net basis — $6.7 million (263.1%).

Among successful investment projects:

• activities of the Belarusian-Swedish joint venture Bakko-Bisov (production of bimetallic saws; the company's products are exported to 60 countries);
• the Swedish holding company Baltic Beverages Holding AB, which belongs to the Danish concern Carlsberg, is a shareholder of the Belarusian Olivaria OJSC;
• direct Swedish investments in bioenergy and the creation of related industries (the acquisition by the Swedish company Rindi Energy AB of a 51% stake in RindiBel JSC created on the basis of the Volkovysk forestry; production of wood chips).

This article has been prepared on the basis of information provided by the National Centre for Marketing and Price Study of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in the Kingdom of Sweden, and taken from public sources. The information presented herein is for informative purposes only. In this regard, it may be useful for the companies, which have been working in Sweden for a long time, as well as for those, which are going to enter this market. Any questions, feedbacks and comments concerning this article are welcome. All of them will be fully considered and taken into account, if possible. If you have any information that may be interesting and useful for the visitors of this page, please write to us.

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