Steady growth in mainland GDP

The development of the service industries was central to the growth in mainland GDP. The three-month growth for March-May continued a stable growth of 0.8 per cent. Growth was broadly composed, with particularly large contributions by business services and technical consultancy. Other commodity production, which consists of primary industries, electricity production and construction, also had a three-month growth of 0.8 per cent. Construction contributed positively as it has done for a longer period. The same was true for fishing and fish farming, while electricity production dragged growth down. For the manufacturing industry, the figures show a growth in the three-month period in line with the other areas.

The growth from April to May was also broadly composed, with particularly fishing and fish farming making significant contributions.

Consumption

Household consumption increased by 0.8 per cent for the period March-May compared with December-February. The consumption of goods had a growth of 1.2 per cent, where vehicles and furniture were among the consumer groups that contributed the most. Service consumption grew by 0.8 per cent for the three-month period.

Foreigners’ purchases in Norway increased by 3.2 per cent in the same three-month period, while Norwegian households’ purchases abroad fell by 0.4 per cent. Public consumption was virtually unchanged during the period, with a growth of 0.1 per cent.

Investments

Gross investments grew 6.8 per cent for the period March-May compared with December-February and 4.2 per cent from April to May. Housing investments grew 1.2 per cent during the three-month period and 1.3 per cent from April to May.

Good monthly information for other investments is lacking. This means that information on planned investments, as reported by firms in the industry, is used for petroleum, manufacturing, mining and power supply investments.

Imports and exports

Total exports increased slightly from December-February to March-May, while exports of traditional goods fell 2 per cent from April to May. Imports of traditional goods grew 0.9 per cent over the same period, while total imports increased by 1.6 per cent.

Revisions

With new monthly figures comes revisions. The statistics used will not normally be subject to a revision, but seasonally adjusted series may, however, be changed. This is a consequence of new information being incorporated into the seasonal adjustment. As additional months are included in the data, the effect of new observations will become ever smaller. Compared to what was published in April, GDP growth in mainland Norway has been revised upwards by 0.1 percentage points for April.

An article has recently been published on the relationship between the rolling three-month growth and the monthly growth in the national accounts (in Norwegian only).