This country faced a rise in inflation and some economists are blaming it on Beyonce— sort of

Sometimes supply chain snarls are not the only reason for inflation in a country. It can simply be a mega pop star. Last year, at the start of Beyoncé's tour, her performance in Sweden sparked so much frenzy that the prices in the country went up. So much so that the country reported inflation of 9.7%. 

According to reports by CBC, spending on restaurants and hotels increased by 0.3 percent in May alone which was the single largest influence on the overall increase in the rate. This unexpected inflation has many policymakers scratching their heads as to what exactly caused the rise. Michael Grahn, an economist at Danske Bank soon jumped to the conclusion that it was all because of Beyoncé.

"I wouldn't ... blame Beyoncé for [the] high inflation print, but her performance and global demand to see her perform in Sweden added a little to it," he wrote in an email to the BBC. This was mainly because it marked the first solar tour of the singers in seven long years which excited all the fans. 

"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," Grahn later wrote on X. "We expect this upside surprise to be reversed in June as prices on hotels and tickets reverse back to normal."

According to the reports, searches for accommodations shot up and so did the ticket sales. In the UK, 60,000 people descended on Cardiff, including fans from Lebanon, the US and Australia. According to economists, such a huge impact by just one artist is pretty rare.

However, the inflation didn't come out of the blue as pointed out by the economist. “It’s not just out of the blue, we did hear a month ago that it was very hard for her fans to get accommodation and that hotel rates went up. It seems to be a reasonable guess," he told NBC. 

"It might be the case that when there is a lot of foreign demand coming into Sweden because it is anticipated as cheap — concert tickets and everything else is cheap for foreigners — that could contribute to pushing up prices," he added.

However, not everybody thought so. James Pomeroy, a global economist at HSBC bank said that while the month-on-month 8.7% increase in accommodation costs may be because of the popstar, the cost of food, and package holidays, she was not the main reason for the inflation. "So whilst Beyoncé may have caused a shock to one month’s data, she’s not the reason for inflation in Sweden that’s well above the central bank’s target," he said.

Another economist Marcus Widén said, "In terms of hotels, I was out traveling in May and did in fact notice there were high prices, and this was not in Stockholm. So although Beyoncé was probably a big boost, I think it was a generally strong pressure on this sector in May." Sweden has faced sharp inflation since Russia's invasion of Ukraine disrupted the wholesale energy market and distribution networks. Therefore just one concert is not the main driving factor.