In Europe’s relentless fight against inflation, another culprit has clearly emerged: Beyoncé.
Last month, as the star began her world tour in Stockholm, fans flocked from around the world to see the show, driving up hotel room prices. This may explain some of the reasons why Sweden’s inflation rate was higher than expected in May.
consumer prices in sweden grew 9.7 percent last month from a year ago, the country’s statistics agency, Statistics Sweden said on Wednesday. The rate fell from 10.5 percent the previous month, but was slightly higher than economists had forecast.
Michael Grahn, an economist at Danske Bank, said the start of Beyoncé’s tour could have an impact on inflation figures. “How Uncertain,” he wrote on twitterBut it can account for most of the 0.3 percentage points that restaurant and hotel prices added to the monthly increase in inflation.
Restaurant and hotel prices rose 3.3 percent in May compared to the previous month, while entertainment and cultural activities and clothing prices also rose.
Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour, her first solo tour since 2016, began on May 10 in Stockholm with two nights at a 50,000-capacity arena. Fans from all over the world took advantage of favorable exchange rates and flew in to buy tickets cheaper than, for example, in the United States or Britain.
Mr. Grahn said in an email that he would not blame Beyoncé for the high inflation number, but “her performance in Sweden and global demand clearly added to it a bit.”
He added that the weakness of Sweden’s currency, the krona, may have added to demand as well as cheaper ticket prices. “The main impact on inflation, however, came from the fact that all the fans needed somewhere to stay,” he said, adding that fans took rooms up to 40 miles away. But the effect will only be short-lived, as prices have plummeted this month.
While this is a “very rare” effect, he noted that Sweden had seen such an inflationary effect on hotel prices prior to the 2017 Football Cup final, when foreign teams played in the country.
“So it’s not unheard of, although unusual,” Mr. Grahn said.
Carl Martensen, a statistician at Statistics Sweden, said that “Beyoncé probably had an effect on hotel prices in Stockholm the week she performed here.” But it should not have had any significant impact on Sweden’s inflation in May, he added.
