In the new release from General government revenue and expenditure, revenue and surplus in the first quarter of 2025 amount to NOK 860 and NOK 246 billion respectively. Both figures are significantly higher than the previous quarter and the first quarter of 2024. As some revenue and expenditure items are subject to incidental fluctuations, it is often meaningful to analyse the sum of four quarters. A comparison of the last four quarters to the preceding four, reveals constant ratio of both revenue and expenditure, as well as surplus, to GDP.

Figure 1. General government revenue and expenditure. Last four quarters. Per cent of GDP

Source: General government revenue and expenditure, Statistics Norway

Defence expenditure above 2 per cent

New figures on expenditure on the functions of government show that defence expenditure amounted to NOK 115 billion in 2024. This corresponds to 2.2 per cent of GDP. The last time defence expenditure exceeded 2 per cent of GDP was 25 years ago, in 1999. As a share of GDP, defence expenditure has risen sharply the last two years. In 2022, defence expenditure totalled only 1.4 per cent of GDP. This was not due to extraordinarily low defence expenditure in current prices, but because soaring revenues from oil and natural gas brought about historically high GDP.

Figure 2. General government defence expenditure. Per cent of GDP

Source: General government revenue and expenditure, Statistics Norway

In government finance statistics (GFS), expenditure related to the defence function, division 02 in the statistical nomenclature, will differ from the NATO measure of defence expenditure. The main difference is assumed to be pensions to former military employees. These benefits are included in defence expenditure according to NATO definitions, but are classified in division 10, social protection expenditure, in GFS.

Revision of 2024 data

In this data release, new accounting information for the fiscal year 2024 has been collected and included in the statistics. The central government sector has been updated with new data on extra-budgetary units, such as universities and research institutes, as well as public hospitals, organized as separate legal entities. In the local government sector, actual annual accounts for municipalities and county authorities are now included. In addition, figures are revised due to new estimates on accrued taxes.

The most significant revision to the dataset is a downward revision of NOK 6 billion to taxes on income and wealth. This revision has a direct impact on the surplus of general government, which is now estimated at NOK 679 billion in 2024. The large surplus, as well as the reduction from 2023, is explained by the petroleum sector.