Norway’s Economy Grows at Steady Pace on Strong Investments

(Bloomberg) --

Norway’s economy expanded at a steady pace in the third quarter, helped by an increase in investments in electricity production and manufacturing.

Mainland gross domestic product, which excludes oil and shipping, expanded 0.7% in the quarter, Statistics Norway said in a statement on Tuesday. A Bloomberg survey of analysts predicted a quarterly expansion of 0.8%, while the central bank had predicted 1.0%.

Key Insight:

• Gross investments on the mainland increased by 5.3% in the third quarter, with investments in electricity production being a major contributor.
• Overall GDP growth, which includes oil and gas production and shipping, was unchanged in the quarter.
• Norges Bank started to unwind a record stimulus in September last year, and has now raised its key rate to 1.50% after the economy benefited from a pick-up in its massive petroleum sector.
• In October, Norges Bank reiterated its view that interest rates will remain unchanged in the “coming period,” but said that a record weak krone could pose a risk to inflation.

What Analysts Say

• “The figures confirm our view of a continued above trend growth despite the global slowdown. This is marginally lower than Norges Bank expected in the MPR in September, but this was acknowledged already at the interim meeting in October,” Danske Bank chief economist Frank Jullum said.

Markets

• The krone was little changed at 10.0775 per euro as of 8:23 a.m. in Oslo.

Know More

• For more details, see this table.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sveinung Sleire in Oslo at ssleire1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mikael Holter at mholter2@bloomberg.net, Stephen Treloar

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