Beyoncé is causing higher “bills, bills, bills” in Sweden.
The 41-year-old music icon’s Renaissance World Tour kicked off in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 10 — and it’s somewhat to blame for the rise of inflation in the country, according to a senior economist at one of the top Nordic banks.
“Beyoncé is responsible for the extra upside surprise this month. It’s quite astonishing for a single event. We haven’t seen this before,” Michael Grahn, Danske Bank’s chief economist in Sweden, told the Financial Times.
From April to May, monthly inflation in Sweden increased 0.3 percentage points, data from Statistics Sweden showed, partially due to “a broad set of goods and services, for instance hotel and restaurant visits” and “recreational services,” which includes concert tickets.
“Beyonce’s start of her world tour in Sweden seems to have colored May inflation, how much is uncertain, but probably 0.2 p.p. of the 0.3 p.p that hotels/restaurants added. Perhaps also hiked concert ticket prices (recreation). Otherwise as expected,” Grahn said Wednesday.
“We expect this upside surprise to be reversed in June as prices on hotels and tickets reverse back to normal,” he added.
Large events typically can cause a temporary price hike in prices at local hotels and restaurants, though it’s rare that these events affect national inflation numbers.
“[That’s] definitely not normal,” Grahn told CNN. “Stars come here all the time, [but] we seldom see effects like this.”
The North American part of Beyoncé’s world tour will kick off on July 8 in Toronto, and she will tour the US for 29 stadium shows — including two shows in New York City on July 29 and July 30 at East Rutherford’s MetLife Stadium.
The setlist for the three-hour show features a total of 36 songs – including her classic hits “Crazy in Love” and “Run the World (Girls)” as well as newer songs like “Cuff It” and “Virgo’s Groove.”