Sweden Increases Economic Spending to Support Growth

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The Swedish government will increase spending by 5.8 billion crowns ($573 million) this year to boost the economy, with the bulk of the money spent on supporting the construction sector, it said on Friday.

Growth in the Swedish economy is yet to fully recover and unemployment is running high against a backdrop of global trade tensions, with Finance Minster Elisabeth Svantesson earlier this week calling conditions abroad "brutally uncertain".

"The increase is intended to temporarily support the construction industry in the current economic situation. The increase can also help support the economy in general," the government said in a statement on Friday.

"The economic recovery is being delayed, partly due to the great uncertainty in the global economy".

The right-wing government will submit its spring amendment budget bill to parliament on April 15.

It said 4.4 billion crowns would be spent on a temporary rise in tax deductions for the renovation and maintenance of private buildings.

In 2024, the Nordic country's economy grew 1%.

($1 = 10.1178 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Stine Jacobsen)