Swedish current account surplus rose to SEK 39.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018 from a downwardly revised SEK 35.5 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year. It is the largest current account surplus since Q4 2016, as the services surplus increased to SEK 23.2 billion from SEK 13 billion a year earlier, on higher sales of research and development services and data services. Also, the primary income surplus widened to SEK 24.6 billion from SEK 20.3 billion, mainly due to the return on portfolio investments and direct investment. Meanwhile, the goods surplus decreased to SEK 16.4 billion from SEK 21.5 billion and the secondary income deficit went up to SEK 24.7 billion from SEK 19.3 billion in Q4 2017. In 2018, the country's current account surplus narrowed to SEK 93.8 billion from SEK 127.6 billion a year ago. Current Account in Sweden averaged 24.24 SEK Billion from 1982 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 82.30 SEK Billion in the first quarter of 2008 and a record low of -15.90 SEK Billion in the third quarter of 1990.
Current Account in Sweden is expected to be 25.00 SEK Billion by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Current Account in Sweden to stand at 36.60 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Sweden Current Account is projected to trend around 28.00 SEK Billion in 2020, according to our econometric models.