STOCKHOLM: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that due to the stronger Swedish kronor, Swedish economy could face a brake this year with weak export demand and economic growth of somewhere between zero and 1 percent, local media reported yesterday.

According to the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter (DN), the IMF commented the banking system of Sweden as vulnerable in that it was five times bigger than the country’s GDP, which together with the reliance on dollar financing and the exposure to the economic situation of other European countries, could be a problem for the Swedish economy.

Meanwhile the Swedish authorities were planning to introduce higher capital criteria in the bank responding to the weak development of housing market and the high proportion of loan that reached 170 percent of the income of Swedish families.

According to the IMF, there was further room for Sweden to lower its housing prices until they reached a stable level and the fall in prices, however, would not cause big problems for banks and the financial system.

The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 17th May 2012