Weekly Bulletin issue no. 50, 1996

Norway the only Nordic country without foreign debt

At the end of 1995 Norway was the only Nordic country with net foreign assets. Measured as a percentage of GDP, the other Nordic countries had a very large net foreign debt.

In 1989, Norway, Sweden and Finland had about the same net external debt, slightly more than 20 per cent of GDP. At the same time, Denmark had a net debt totalling nearly 40 per cent of GDP. Norway's net position has now changed to a net foreign asset position, while the other Nordic countries still have a very high net foreign debt, both relatively and as a percentage of GDP.

Denmark's net debt has been substantially reduced since 1989, and is now down to 27 per cent of GDP. Sweden and Finland had very strong growth in their net debt until 1993-1994. During those years, Sweden's net debt totalled over 46 per cent and Finland's over 50 per cent of their respective GDPs. At the end of 1995, however, the net foreign debt of these countries had dropped to about 40 per cent of GDP.

Source

Foreign assets and liabilities, 1995.
Statistics are published every year in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and in Banking and Credit Statistics. Current data. More information: Leiv Ryalen, tel. +47 21 09 45 23, e-mail: lry@ssb.no. (See also the article in issue no. 49 of the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and issue no. 14 of Banking and Credit Statistics. Current data.)

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 50, 1996