Swedish GDP down 4.9% in fourth quarter

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 27 (Chinese media) -- Sweden's gross domestic product decreased 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter last year, compared to the same period in 2007, a government agency reported Friday.

The annual GDP fell 2 percent. It was the country's biggest drop since the government began recording quarterly economic statistics in 1994, Statistics Sweden, the Swedish national statistics agency, said in a statement.

Exports decreased 7.2 percent and imports 5.4 percent. Industrial production declined 6.1 percent. Household consumption fell 3.3 percent, the statement said, adding that total production of goods dropped 8.3 percent and service sector industries 4.8 percent. Total employment, measured as the number of hours worked, slipped 1.3 percent.

"It's markedly weaker than what the market had forecast. It was certainly a negative surprise on all fronts," the TT news agency quoted Swedbank analyst Cecilia Skingsley as saying.

The recession also hit other Nordic countries such as Denmark. The Danish GDP fell 2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to Statistics Denmark.

Imports and exports also fell in Denmark, dragging the 2008 GDP down 1.3 percent, the statistics agency said.