Swedish Core Inflation Unexpectedly Speeds Up as Taylor Swift Fans Boost Hotel Prices
- Core inflation accelerates for the first time in over a year
- Hotel prices rose as Swift played three concerts in Stockholm
Fans queue outside Friends arena before a concert of US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour in Stockholm, on May 17.
Photographer: Pontus Lundahl/AFP/Getty Images
Sweden’s core inflation rate unexpectedly increased as fans of Taylor Swift flooding the nation’s capital contributed to an increase in service prices.
A price measure that strips out energy costs and the effect of interest-rate changes rose 3% from a year earlier, according to data published by Statistics Sweden on Friday, marking the first time in more than a year that core inflation has accelerated. The outcome — mainly fed by a broad increase in service prices — was higher than the median estimate of 2.6% in a Bloomberg survey of analysts as well as the central bank’s 2.9% forecast.