Sweden’s year-on-year inflation rate fell to 9.7 percent in May, according to the consumer price index measurement (CPI), down from 10.5 percent in April.
According to Bloomberg, that’s slightly less than most forecasts, which had predicted that it would drop to 9.5 percent.
Chief economist Michael Grahn at Danske Bank has an interesting theory - that the culprit in the drama is partly the world star Beyoncé. The decision of the US pop superstar to launch her global tour in Stockholm in May could have been responsible for that month's surprisingly high inflation figures. 46,000 fans flocked to Stockholm in mid-May for the two concerts that kicked off her first solo tour in seven years.
The figures show that inflation during the month of May exceeded the Riksbank's forecast by one tenth. According to Michael Grahn, as much as 20% of this can be due to the fact that the prices for hotel and restaurant visits increased significantly in connection with the Beyoncé's concerts in Stockholm.
For a single event like Beyoncé's tour stop in Stockholm and the world premiere of the tour on May 10 to have such remarkable impact on an economy is extremely rare.
However, we're not out of the woods yet. Anders Wallström, head of forecasting at Swedbank, suggests that Bruce Springsteen's three upcoming concerts in Gothenburg at the end of June may have a similar effect on Swedish inflation.
Batten down the hatches - pop superstars don't just inflate their own egos.