Beyoncé has won a record number of Grammy Awards, has become one of the world’s best-selling music artists and is on an unprecedented sold-out world tour.
But Queen Bey, as she is known to her legions of fans, is now credited with the most unlikely of achievements, according to an economic expert who says she is partly to blame for Sweden’s stubbornly high inflation.
The superstar’s ongoing Renaissance world tour kicked off at Stockholm’s National Arena on May 10 and 11, with fans flying in from the United States and other parts of the world to see it, partly due to lower prices and partly because of pure emotion.
And the resulting increase in hotel prices and other costs paid by fans is partly why Sweden’s inflation figure fell just 0.2% less than expected in May, according to Michael Grahn, an economist. head in Sweden of Danske Bank of Denmark.
«Maybe all of that isn’t because of her alone, as there are other events going on, but when you think about what caused it, she’s the prime suspect,» he told NBC News.
“It’s not just out of the blue, we heard a month ago that it was very difficult for his fans to get accommodation and that hotel rates went up. It seems to be a reasonable assumption.
Sweden’s annual inflation rate decreased by 0.2% from April to May, from 8.4% to 8.2%, excluding energy costs. show the official statistics — a smaller decline than economists had expected, thanks in part to higher hotel and restaurant spending in May. Economists had forecast inflation to hit 7.8% in May.
Grahn explained Thursday that one reason she missed that goal was the influx of foreign Beyoncé fans into Sweden, which at 10.4 million has a population similar to North Carolina, which has nearly 9. millions.
American fans were facing prices of up to $900 for the American leg of the tour, prompting some to look for cheaper options in Europe.
Grahn said that other nations had «a lot more accommodation to deal with when all these fans flood the country.»
“It could be the case that when a lot of foreign demand comes to Sweden, because it is expected to be cheap (concert tickets and everything else is cheap for foreigners), that could contribute to increasing prices.”
Bruce Springsteen plays three nights at the end of the month in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, which is considerably smaller than Stockholm, raising fears of a similar economic effect.
However, not everyone was convinced of Beyoncé’s market powers.
James Pomeroy, global economist at HSBC bank, said that while the 8.7% monthly rise in accommodation costs in May fit Beyoncé’s explanation, the cost of food, vacation packages and pets at the national were also to blame for the annual increase. figures.
«So while Beyoncé may have caused a shock to a month’s worth of data, she is not the reason why inflation in Sweden is well above the central bank’s target,» he said.
Entertainment and hotel spending was high in May, but not high enough to be historical outliers, according to Marcus Widén, economist at Nordic corporate bank SEB Group.
“As for hotels, I was traveling in May and actually noticed high prices, and this was not in Stockholm. So while Beyoncé was probably a big push, I think it was a strong overall pressure on this sector in May,” she said.
Like many European countries, Sweden has faced high inflation and higher domestic costs since the Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupted the wholesale power market and distribution networks.
The countries of the European Union that use the euro have collectively fallen into recession, the bloc’s statistics agency confirmed this week, with gross domestic product falling 0.1% in the last three months of last year and the first three months of this year.
Sweden, however, voted not to adopt the euro in 2003 to keep the crown. In addition, it overcame the Covid pandemic better than some of your neighborsin part by keeping businesses and public buildings open.
And as for Grahn, she doesn’t expect to continue to be of interest to either Beyoncé fans or the world’s media. He wouldn’t describe himself as her fan either.
«No, I’m probably too old to be one of his fans,» he said with a smile.
«It’s a bit unusual, I’m used to being quoted in the Swedish media in terms of economics and so on, but not on this scale. Well, it’s good of course, I guess it’s something unique and I’ll be forgotten.» soon.»