STOCKHOLM (AFP) -- Sweden's official unemployment rate in September fell to 4.9 percent, down from 5.7 percent in August and unchanged on the year, Statistics Sweden said.

Market expectations were for a rate of 5.0 percent in September, according to a survey of economists by SME Direkt.

It was the third consecutive fall since June's 6.3 percent spike. The September rate came close to equaling the level of 4.8 percent reported in May. The number of people registered as unemployed stood at 225,000 during September, compared with 269,000 in August.

A total of 4.345 million people held jobs, an increase of 86,000 on September 2005.

Sweden's unemployment figures do not fully conform to the EU-harmonized Labor Force Survey as the data omit certain groups of unemployed people, such as students who are studying while actively seeking work.

Sweden's centre-right coalition government, which won general elections on September 17, also disputes the figures used since 1986. The new administration forecasts an annualized unemployment rate for 2006 of 8.7 percent, falling to 7.7 percent in 2007.

Meanwhile, Switzerland's foreign trade surplus during the first nine months of the year increased by 40 percent compared to 2005 to reach a "colossal" 8.5 billion Swiss francs (5.3 billion euros, 6.7 billion dollars), Swiss customs authorities said.

The figure exceeded the full year trade surplus recorded in 2005 by 600 million Swiss francs, the Federal Customs Office said in a statement.

In September, the trade surplus reached a "record" monthly level at 1.8 billion Swiss francs, it added. No quarterly data was given.

Exports in the first nine months of 2006 rose by 12 percent in value terms to 129.4 billion Swiss francs while imports over the same period climbed 10.4 percent to 120.9 billion Swiss francs.

It was the best data covering the period from January to September since 2000, the customs authority said.

"The balance of trade figure concludes on a colossal surplus of 8.5 billion Swiss francs," the statement said.

The value of imports was buoyed by a sharp increase in prices of 5.2 percent, largely due to the energy sector, it added.

Energy-related products recorded the highest individual growth rate of any import sector, increasing by 31.4 percent. All Swiss export sectors grew during the nine month period, at nominal rates of 9.3 percent to 14 percent for six industrial pillars of the Swiss economy -- electronics and machinery, plastics, precision instruments, watchmaking, metals and chemicals or pharmaceutical products.