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NOK 76 billion in current account surplus
statistikk
2013-12-04T10:00:00.000Z
External economy;National accounts and business cycles;External economy
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ur, International accounts, current account balance, direct investments, operational and capital accounts, financial accounts, investment abroad, foreign investment, transactions, stocks, financial assets, liabilities, portofolio investment, financial investments, revaluations, current account balance, balance of income and current transfers, reinvested earnings, net assets, BOP geographical breakdown, balance of goods, balance of services, BOP, IIP, balance of payments, international investment positionBalance of payments, National accounts , Foreign assets and liabilities , National accounts and business cycles, External economy
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The statistics shows the quarterly Norwegian current account balance. The surplus on Norway’s current account with the rest of the world ended at NOK 76 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2013.

International accounts, Q3 2013

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NOK 76 billion in current account surplus

The surplus in Norway’s current account with the rest of the world was NOK 6 billion lower in the third quarter than in the second quarter of 2013, mainly due to a decrease in the goods and services balance. The surplus in the income and transfers balance was higher in the third quarter than the second quarter of 2013. The current account surplus was NOK 246 billion in the first three quarters of 2013.

Balance of payments. NOK billionPublished 4 December 2013
20123rd quarter 20124th quarter 20121st quarter 20132nd quarter 20133rd quarter 2013
Balance of goods and services387.668.094.198.175.462.3
Balance of income and current transfers29.626.612.1-10.16.513.4
Current account balance417.294.5106.188.081.975.7
Capital transfers to abroad, net1.30.20.20.70.30.1
Net lending415.694.4105.787.381.675.6
Direct investment, net30.5-22.6-6.762.12.30.6
Portifolio investment, net305.4130.0118.545.9113.394.9
Other investment, net-34.1-69.9-66.4-58.7-6.9-25.0
Revaluations, net59.450.5-11.4303.6131.1198.3
Increase in Norway's net assets475.0144.994.3390.9212.8273.9

Source: Statistics Norway

Figure 1 shows the current account balance, the goods and services balance, and the income and transfers balance. The surplus on Norway’s current account with the rest of the world ended at NOK 76 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2013. The surplus was NOK 6 billion lower than in the 2nd quarter of 2013, mainly due to a decrease in the goods and services balance. The surplus in the income and transfers balance was higher in the 3rd quarter than the second quarter of 2013.

The current account surplus in the first three quarters of 2013 was NOK 65 billion lower than in 2012.

Decrease in the surplus in the goods and services balance

The export value of crude oil and natural gas was NOK 3 billion higher in the third quarter than the second quarter of 2013. In the first three quarters in 2013 the export value of crude oil and natural gas was NOK 41 billion lower than in the same period in 2012. Other goods exports have been NOK 5 billon higher so far this year compared to the same period last year.

Imported goods totalled NOK 139 billion in the third quarter of 2013; NOK 1 billion higher than in the second quarter. The import of goods was NOK 404 billion in the first three quarters of 2013. This is NOK 14 billion higher than in the same period in 2012.

The deficit in the balance of services was NOK 16 billion in the third quarter. A key reason for this is that Norwegian travel expenses were NOK 8 billion higher in the third quarter than in the second quarter as a result of standard holiday patterns. The deficit in the service balance was NOK 13 billion lower than in the second quarter of 2013. In the first three quarters of 2013, the deficit in the balance of services was NOK 21 billion.

Surplus of income and transfers

There was a surplus of NOK 13 billion in the income and transfers balance in the third quarter. In the first three quarters of 2013 the surplus in the income and transfers balance was NOK 10 billion. This is NOK 8 billion lower than in the same period last year.

Large portfolio investment abroad

The transactions in portfolio investment abroad in the third quarter of 2013 amounted to NOK 129 billion. The largest investor was the Government Pension Fund Global.

Direct investment abroad in the same quarter amounted to NOK 34 billion; almost equal to the amount of the foreign direct investment in Norway. However, in the period of the first to the third quarter, direct investment abroad was much higher than the investment in the opposite direction.

Large net gains from revaluations

The net valuation gains (mainly from changes in the exchange rates and in security prices) amounted to NOK 198 billion in the third quarter of 2013 and NOK 632 billion 1 in the period of the first to the third quarter. This implied that the valuation gains were much more important for the change in the net foreign assets of Norway than the transactions.

1 The figure was corrected 6 December 2013.

Revisions Open and readClose

The quarterly figures have been revised back to 2011. The current account balance has been revised up by NOK 21 billion in 2011 and NOK 5 billion in 2012.

Planned changes in the national accounts statisticsOpen and readClose

New revised figures for national accounts and related statistics will be published in November and December 2014. Statistics Norway complies with international guidelines in its preparation of national accounts and statistics on foreign affairs. New international guidelines have now been issued for these statistics. Statistics Norway is currently in the process of implementing the changes, in addition to new source data for some of the statistics.