Swedish entrepreneurs and company executives are getting more optimistic, the Riksbank’s in-depth survey shows.

During the spring a large number of discussions between leaders of Swedish companies and the central bank were held. In the talks a picture has emerged of a certain degree of stabilisation and of cautious optimism following the sharp downturn of the autumn and winter, the Riksbank concluded in a report published on Monday.

”Things have begun to stabilise from a very low level” and ”Things have levelled out since the end of the first quarter, things have bottomed out”, company exexutives said in the conversations to explain the current situation at the market, the Riksbank writes.

Just about two-thirds of the companies described the economic situation as poor, while most other companies, mainly in the retail sector, believed that it was satisfactory. This is in line with the previous survey conducted in December last year. However, the marked change is that only one third of the companies now expected to see a further deterioration in economic activity.

The new-born optimism is as most visual in the manufacturing and retail sectors where clear signs of stabilisation of production and sales to be found. There are still large differences between different sectors. The non-durables segment of the retail sector largely assesses the situation as satisfactory and there are some signs of light at the end of the tunnel in the export sector. But the situation is weaker in the rest of the retail sector, particularly with regard to electrical goods.

Still, there is considerable anxiety about a setback in the development of economic activity, which partly relates to the fact that funding remains tight. Compared to the previous company survey the the funding situation seems to have eased somewhat.

The Riksbank’s interviews mainly took place in May and comprised 62 Swedish companies.