NOK 5.4 billion deficit

Preliminary figures show that Norway had a deficit of NOK 5.4 billion in its current account balance in December 1998. The deficit came to NOK 9.2 million for all of 1998.

In December 1998 there was a deficit of NOK 2.9 billion in the balance of goods and services. This was a worsening of NOK 1.8 billion compared with November 1998. Total exports increased by NOK 0.2 billion, whereas total imports increased by NOK 2.0 billion. The balance of goods and the balance of services had respective deficits of NOK 2.1 and NOK 0.8 billion in December 1998.

The balance of income and current transfers had a deficit of NOK 2.5 billion in December 1998, while the average monthly deficit in 1998 was NOK 1.6 billion. In November 1998 the deficit in the balance of income and current transfers was NOK 2.1 billion.

For 1998 as a whole, it is currently estimated that there will be a deficit of NOK 9.2 billion in the current account balance. In 1997 there was a surplus of NOK 56.8 billion. The balance of goods and services had a surplus of NOK 9.7 billion in 1998, a reduction in the surplus of NOK 66.9 billion relative to 1997. The deficit in the balance of income and current transfers has decreased relative to 1997 and was estimated at NOK 18.9 billion in 1998.

Preliminary figures show that Norway's net foreign assets increased by NOK 0.1 billion in December 1998 and were estimated at NOK 84.9 billion at the close of the year. The reason for the increase in net foreign assets despite the deficit in the current account balance was the estimated increase in the value of net foreign assets primarily because of fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

New Statistics
Balance of payments, December 1998.
The statistics are published monthly in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. For more information contact: Bjornar.Ansnes@ssb.no, tel.: +47 21 09 48 35 or Tore.Halvorsen@ssb.no, tel.: +47 21 09 48 48.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 8, 1999