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NOK 64 billion in surplus
statistikk
2010-12-01T10:00:00.000Z
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, Q3 2010

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NOK 64 billion in surplus

The surplus on the current account balance was NOK 64 billion in the third quarter. This is NOK 9 billion1 lower than in the second quarter of 2010. Both the goods and services balance and the income and transfers balance are positive for the third quarter.

1 Corrected 2. December

Driftsbalansen overfor utlandet. 1. kvartal 2005-3. kvartal 2010. Milliarder kroner

Lower surplus on the goods and services balance

The surplus on the goods and services balance amounted to NOK 60 billion in the third quarter; NOK 14 billion lower than in the second quarter of 2010. The lower goods and services balance was mainly due to a decline in exports of goods, as well as an increase in imports of services. The decline in the export of commodities was NOK 10 billion in the second quarter, which mostly emanated from lower exports of oil and gas. This value decrease was due to a reduction in both volume and prices, down 4.9 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively. The total service imports rose by NOK 6 billion; an increase driven mainly by higher imports of travel services. Commodity imports were over NOK 2 billion lower in the third quarter than the quarter before and thus made a positive contribution to the trade and services balance. Service exports were virtually unchanged from the second quarter.

Lower interest costs to abroad

The income and current transfers balance is estimated to be NOK 4 billion in the third quarter, while there was a deficit of NOK 1 billion in the second quarter. There was a decline in dividend payments to and from abroad, while interest expenses to foreign countries went down, which increased the interest income and transfers balance by NOK 6 billion.

Large reduction in foreign direct investment abroad

After several quarters with large direct investment abroad, such investment was reduced from NOK 32 billion in the second quarter to a mere NOK 5 billion in the third quarter of 2010. On the other hand, foreign direct investment in Norway increased considerably in the third quarter. Portfolio investment abroad (including the Government Pension Fund Global) stayed at the same high level as in the two previous quarters.

Revisions

As a result of new information, the balance of payments has been revised for the first and second quarters of 2010. The financial account has also been revised for 2009. In the second quarter the current account deficit was reduced by NOK 10 billion. Of this, the import of services was revised down by NOK 6 billion, while the income and transfers balance was reduced by NOK 4 billion.

For more information about price and volume growth of exports and imports, see the quarterly national accounts .

More details about exports and imports of goods are available in the statistics on external trade in goods .

For more information on the external account, see the theme page .

Balance of payments. 1. quarter 2008-3. quarter 2010. NOK billion
  2008 2009 Q1 2008 Q2 2008 Q3 2008 Q4 2008 Q1 2009 Q2 2009 Q3 2009 Q4 2009 Q1 2010 Q2 2010 Q3 2010
Balance of goods and services  481        352  123  132  111  116  109 75 71 97 99 74 60
Balance of income and current transfers -32 -41 -25 -14 -5 12 -42 10 -4 -5 -13 -1 4
Current account balance  449  312 98  118  106  127 67 85 67 92 86 73 64
Capital transfers etc. to abroad, net 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 10 73 12 61 27 -21
Net lending  448  311 98  118  105  127 67 85 67 92 85 73 64
Direct investment, net 86  115 20 28 35 3 0 10 73 12 61 27 -21
Portifolio investment, net  645 14  135 77  209  224 83 48 15 -132 21 -53 97
Other investment, net -323  350 -68 24 -124 -155 3  102 23  226 5  153 -27
Revaluations, net -164 28 -87 -115 81 -44 -239  220  138 -94 84 -20 39
Increase in Norway`s net assets  284  338 11 3  186 84 -171  305  205 -2  169 53  104