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NOK 319 billion in current account surplus
statistikk
2014-03-05T10:00:00.000Z
External economy;National accounts and business cycles;External economy
en
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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International accounts, Q4 2013

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NOK 319 billion in current account surplus

The surplus on Norway’s current account with the rest of the world was almost NOK 100 billion lower in 2013 than in 2012. Around NOK 80 billion is due to a weaker balance of goods and services. The remaining NOK 20 billion is due to a balance of income and current transfers.

Balance of payments. NOK billionPublished 5 March 2014
20134th quarter 20121st quarter 20132nd quarter 20133rd quarter 20134th quarter 2013
Balance of goods and services308.794.197.174.059.777.9
Balance of income and current transfers10.812.1-10.14.813.42.6
Current account balance319.5106.187.178.873.180.5
Capital transfers to abroad, net1.40.20.70.30.10.3
Net lending318.0105.786.478.573.080.2
Direct investment, net50.4-25.421.64.4-3.728.1
Portifolio investment, net322.0118.844.8118.786.272.2
Other investment, net-96.6-67.0-54.1-10.3-28.1-4.0
Revaluations, net824.6-12.6299.0130.5198.1197.1
Increase in Norway's net assets1 142.693.1385.4209.0271.1277.2

Source: Statistics Norway

Figure 1. Current account balance

The balance of goods and services is weakened mainly as a result of the lower oil and gas export. With regard to imports, both travel and financial services contributed to the rise from 2012 to 2013. In relation to the balance of income and current transfers it should be mentioned that dividends from abroad are NOK 24 billion lower in 2013 than 2012. On the other side we have higher current transfers to abroad strengthening the trend.

The weak trend in balance of goods and services continues

The weaker balance of goods and services continues in the 4th quarter of 2013. The surplus of the balance of goods and services was NOK 78 billion for this particular quarter; NOK 16 billion less than the surplus of the 4th quarter of 2012. The declining surplus can primarily be explained by growing imports, and imports of goods increased by NOK 10 billion. Imports of services increased by NOK 6 billion, and the import of travel was the largest contributor to this.

Weaker surplus on the balance of income and current transfers

The surplus on the balance of income and current transfers was NOK 2.6 billion in the 4th quarter of 2013. This is a surplus of about NOK 10 billion lower than that of the 4th quarter of 2012. The total surplus for 2013 is NOK 10.8 billion for 2013. This is almost NOK 20 billion lower than the total surplus in 2012.

Portfolio investment dominates the transactions in 2013

The total Norwegian investment abroad in 2013 amounted to NOK 581 billion, of which NOK 433 billion was in portfolio investment and NOK 105 billion in direct investment. The portfolio investment in the fourth quarter of 2013 had a change in investment due to a net sale of equity capital and net acquisition of other securities. The big change in transactions in the fourth quarter of 2013 was dominated by the Government Pension Fund Global. Equity capital decreased from NOK 228 billion in 2012 to NOK 28 billion in 2013. Other securities increased from NOK 209 billion in 2012 to NOK 392 billion in 2013.

The transactions in foreign investment in Norway were dominated by portfolio investment and other investments by 39 per cent and 42 per cent of total foreign investment respectively.

Large positive revaluations in 2013

The net revaluations were NOK 825 billion in 2013 and the net investment was NOK 318 billion, which led to a net asset increase of NOK 1 143 billion. Most of the return of the Government Pension Fund Global appears in the Balance of Payments financial account as revaluations. The Fund had a high return due to high price changes in equity capital in 2013. A weaker krone increased the value of the revaluations.

Revisions Open and readClose

The quarterly figures have been revised back to 2011 for the financial accounts. The current account balance has been revised only for 2013.

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.