Stockholm - Swedish businesses are losing money and productivity from the increasing amount of time which mployees spend surfing the internet during working hours, a news report said Monday.

Magazine Computer Sweden estimated that four years ago the average Swedish employee spent about two hours per work week on private surfing on the net. Now it is one hour per day.

Among the most popular web sites are financial and banking sites, while travel and tourism sites are also a favourite, the magazine said. Some 90-95 per cent of the website visits were private.

The estimates were tallied with the help of the analysis company Enecto.

Few Swedish businesses have strict guidelines for internet surfing during working hours, according to Computer Sweden and many said they did not view the matter as a problem.

However, some businesses and public agencies have installed filters to block visits to sites like communities or that pose potential security threats.

Banking group Swedbank has for instance blocked access to the popular community, Facebook.

The costs can potentially soar. The magazine calculated that a 200-strong firm could lose roughly 10 million kronor (1.7 million dollars) a year to private surfing. (dpa)