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220711
Reduced current account surplus
statistikk
2015-06-03T10:00:00.000Z
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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The statistics show the quarterly Norwegian current account balance.

International accounts, Q1 2015

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Reduced current account surplus

Preliminary figures show current account surplus of NOK 72.6 billion for the 1st quarter of 2015, which is NOK 33 billion less than the same quarter in 2014, and also lower than the 4th quarter of 2014.

Balance of payments. NOK millionPublished 3 June 2015
1st quarter 20142nd quarter 20143rd quarter 20144th quarter 20141st quarter 2015
Current account balance105 19661 64246 87883 27772 620
Balance of goods and services98 59460 19836 48579 87756 032
Balance of income and current transfers6 6021 44410 3933 40016 588
Capital transfers to abroad, net7362573990738
Net lending, current account104 44861 38346 83983 18771 870
 
Direct investment51 151-27 688-9 93053 03926 231
Portofolio investment62 62169 48913 831-29 685-50 152
Other investments-4 59059 0087 48869 776-8 827
Reserve assets (IMF breakdown)24 8704 52125 922-15 18517 995
Net lending, financial account134 052105 33037 31177 945-14 753
 
Net errors and omissions-29 604-43 9479 5285 24286 623

Source: Statistics Norway

Figure 1. The current account

The low surplus on the current account is a result of stagnation in the export value at the same time as imports continue to increase.

Lower crude oil prices, low export quantity

Lower crude oil prices together with a low export quantity are two of the main reasons for the falling export values. The export of other goods rose by 11.6 per cent compared with the same quarter last year, with prices and volumes both increasing. Imports of goods rose by 8,8 per cent.

Preliminary calculations indicate certain growth in the value of exports of services in the 1st quarter of 2015 from the same period in 2014. The value of imports of services also increased. Compared with the previous quarter, however, both exports and imports of services were lower. For more information about volume and price changes and seasonal adjustment, see Quarterly national accounts.

For the balance of income and current transfers, the preliminary calculations imply a surplus of NOK 16.6 billion for the 1st quarter of 2015. This is close to the highest surplus ever measured. Compared to the 1st quarter of 2014, higher investment income from abroad and correspondingly lower expenses to abroad contributed to raising the surplus of the balance of income and current transfers.

Financial account: negative net financial investments abroad

The total Norwegian acquisitions of financial assets abroad in the 1st quarter of 2015 amounted to NOK 185 billion. The portfolio investment was NOK 73 billion and the direct investment was NOK 50 billion. Norwegian banks invested large amounts in deposits abroad, while banks’ loans to non-residents were considerably reduced during the first quarter.

The total incurrence of liabilities abroad was NOK 200 billion. The foreign portfolio investment in Norway amounted to NOK 124 billion, of which transactions in debt securities dominated with NOK 114 billion.

RevisionsOpen and readClose

Exports and imports are revised for the quarters in 2014. Balance of income and current transfers are also revised as new information has become available.

In the financial account only the figures for the first quarter of 2015 has been updated. Revisions of previous quarters will be included in the next publication.

Changes in tableOpen and readClose

A minor adjustment has been made on the current and capital account table where some of the content of the post “Export of gross receipts, shipping” has been moved to the post “Export of transport and communication”. The item that has been moved is “Export of supply services to shipping”. This modification has been made for all years dating back to 1981.