National accounts, non-financial sector accounts, Q4 2007

Disposable income rose by 6.1 per cent from 2006 to 2007. With a price growth of 0.7 per cent (as measured by consumer price index), this implies a growth in real disposable income of 5.5 percent.

The main reason for the growth in disposable income is the strong increase in wages and salaries. From 2006 to 2007, nominal wages and salaries rose by 9.6 per cent. Hence real wages and salaries rose by 8.9 per cent.

In 2007, Norges Bank raised its key policy rate by 1.75 percentage points. This caused an increase in property income and income related to interest-bearing balances of 37 per cent. However, household property expenses mainly consist of interest-bearing debt. The repeated increases in the key policy rate and continued growth in interest-bearing debt balances led to an increase in property expense of NOK 32.6 billion, or 52 per cent. The rise in property expenses contributed to a decrease in real disposable income of 3.8 per cent.

The real growth in social benefits was 3.5 per cent in 2007. This contributed to an increase in real disposable income of 1.1 per cent.

Consumption expenditures exceeded income

For the first time since 1988, the savings ratio is estimated to be negative in 2007. The preliminary estimate for the savings ratio is -1.2 per cent, compared with 0.1 per cent in 2006. The negative savings ratio is due to higher growth in consumption expenditure than in disposable income. For more information about consumption, go to the Quarterly national accounts and Economic trends for Norway and abroad .

Tables

Published tables