Sweden

Sweden’s central bank sounded the alarm on the Nordic country’s huge household debt burden amid an acrimonious debate on whether it should instead be focusing more on fighting deflation. The Riksbank, the world’s oldest central bank, published a study on Wednesday that it claimed showed debt levels were higher than feared, with the average indebted Swede owing 296 per cent of their annual income while the average mortgage holder owed 370 per cent.

The Riksbank, the world’s oldest central bank, has become a sadist in its use of monetary policy, according to Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, Bloomberg News reported. He says the Stockholm-based central bank’s bias toward tight policy during the financial crisis was a “terrible mistake” that now risks creating a Japan-style deflationary spiral. The criticism has the potential to weaken the exchange rate as international investors “question the Swedish economic development,” according to SEB AB, the Nordic region’s biggest currency trader.

Three years ago Sweden was regarded as a role model in how to deal with a global crisis. The nation’s exports were hit hard by slumping world trade but snapped back; its well-regulated banks rode out the financial storm; its strong social insurance programmes supported consumer demand; and, unlike much of Europe, it still had its own currency, giving it much-needed flexibility. By mid-2010 output was surging, and unemployment was falling fast. Sweden, declared The Washington Post , was “the rock star of the recovery”. Then the sadomonetarists moved in.

The new owners of Swedish car maker Saab, National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB, will restart production of the 9-3 sedan on Monday at the Trollhattan factory in Sweden, a NEVS spokesman said on Friday, Reuters reported. The 9-3 sedan will be powered by a turbocharged gasoline engine and built in "small and humble numbers" for China and Sweden, NEVS spokesman Mikael Ostlund said. The move comes almost two years after Saab, which had made cars since 1947, filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2011.

Sweden's Volvo Group, the world's second biggest lorry manufacturer, announced Tuesday a 5 billion kronor (580 million euros, $780 million) restructuring plan over two years, the Economic Times reported. "The programme encompasses both reduction of white collar employees and consultants and efficiency enhancements in the global industrial system," the company wrote in a statement, without indicating the number of jobs affected. The Volvo Group, which also makes buses, construction equipment and engines, indicated that the restructuring would mainly concern its lorry business.

Swedish prosecutors have questioned the former head of bankrupt car maker Saab and two others in an investigation into suspected tax offences relating to the running of the company, officials said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Prosecutors are looking into allegations that executives at Saab, which collapsed in 2011, obstructed proper tax checks over the years 2010 to 2011, a turbulent time for the company, when it was sold by General Motors to small Dutch sports car maker Spyker, and when problems which led to its collapse emerged.

A Swedish prosecutor says three former executives of automaker Saab Automobile AB have been arrested on accounting fraud charges, the Associated Press reported. Prosecutor Olof Sahlgren says the three are "suspected of aggravated attempts to avoid tax controls" by allegedly falsifying parts of Saab's accounts between 2010 and 2011 - a crime that carries a sentence of up to four years in prison. Sahlgren wouldn't identify the three, who worked for Saab while it was owned by Dutch luxury car maker Spyker, which had bought the Swedish company off General Motors.

Sweden’s financial watchdog will stop turning a blind eye to traders who have ignored a rule requiring them to report company bond prices as the regulator seeks to improve transparency in a growing market, Bloomberg News reported today. The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority will ask corporate debt traders to follow rules similar to those adhered to in the government and mortgage bond markets. That means they must file trade reports including volumes as well as the highest, lowest and closing prices, no later than 9 a.m. the next day.

Troubled Scandinavian airline SAS and its labor unions on Monday pushed on with talks aimed at ensuring the group's survival and avoiding bankruptcy after a midnight deadline for a deal passed, The Chicago Tribune reported on a Reuters story. The Scandinavian airline, hit by competition from lower-price rivals, last week announced plans to cut some salaries by up to 17 percent, reduce overall headcount to about 9,000 from 15,000 and reduce costs.

SAS AB on Monday said it would cut salaries and more jobs as part of a new restructuring plan that is dependent partly on the support of labor unions, as the Scandinavian airline carrier tries to convince investors of its long-term future, The Wall Street Journal reported. The airline, partly owned by the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish governments, said its new plan will include cost savings of around three billion Swedish kronor ($445 million), outsourcing parts of customer service and improvements to information technology.