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3247
Households’ consumption up in April
statistikk
2009-05-29T10:00:00.000Z
Wholesale and retail trade and service activities;Income and consumption;National accounts and business cycles
en
vki, Index of household consumption of goods, volume index, household consumption (for example car purchase, food consumption, electricity consumption)Wholesale and retail trade , Consumption, National accounts , Income and consumption, National accounts and business cycles, Wholesale and retail trade and service activities
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Index of household consumption of goods, April 2009

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Households’ consumption up in April

Seasonally-adjusted figures show an increase of 0.9 per cent in the household consumption of goods from March to April. Electricity and heating fuels lessened the growth in consumption. Excluding this, the index of household consumption of goods shows an increase of 1.5 per cent.

The households’ consumption of electricity and heating fuels shows a decrease of 5.9 per cent from the previous month. On the other hand, there was an increase in April of 2.2 per cent in purchases of cars and other personal vehicles as well as petrol compared with March. As in the previous month, the car purchases continued to contribute to the increase in the households’ consumption of goods. Excluding the car purchases, the index of household consumption of goods shows an increase of 0.7 per cent.

The consumption of goods in the group “other goods” went up 2.1 per cent. Clothes and shoes, as well as books and leisure goods made the greatest contribution to this growth.

The consumption of food, beverages and tobacco went up 0.2 per cent from March to April. The changes in the components in this group of goods differed. The consumption of food increased slightly, whereas the consumption of tobacco and non-alcoholic beverages decreased.

It is important to be aware that the uncertainty is greater than is normally the case in the seasonally-adjusted indices for March and April due to the changed placing of Easter. In 2009, Easter was in April whereas in 2008 it fell in March. The seasonally-adjusted indices take the placing of Easter into account, but it can still be difficult to adjust for all impacts caused by Easter.

Without adjustments for seasonal variations, the households consumed goods for 7.1 per cent less in April 2009 than in the same month in the previous year. Consumers bought less of everything apart from food and beverages compared with April 2008.

Method differs from the index of retail sales

The index of household consumption of goods describes the development in household consumption, while the index of retail sales measures the development in retail sales. Compared to the index of retail sales, the index of household consumption of goods has a wider selection of goods. The calculation of the index of household consumption of goods is based on information from the index of retail sales, plus purchases of cars (initial registration) and consumption of electricity and heating fuels. This may result in deviations in the development of the two indices. Additionally, it should be borne in mind that the “Standard Industrial Classification” changed on 1 January 2009, which inter alia means that petrol stations from then onwards are a part of retail sales.

The index of household consumption of goods uses the same definitions and methods of compilation as the quarterly national accounts, and thus serves as an indicator of household consumption in the quarterly national accounts.

Since Statistics Norway gives a high priority to timeliness in the release of statistics, the index of household consumption of goods may have to rely on preliminary estimates in some cases. This means that such estimates will be replaced in subsequent releases. As regards the seasonally-adjusted figures, the figures for previous periods may be revised when a new observation is added to the series of raw data.

Index of household consumption of goods, April 2009. Seasonally adjusted and unadjusted volume indices. April 2008-April 2009. 1995=1001
Period Seasonally
adjusted 		Change from previous
month. Per cent 		Unadjusted Change from the same
month last year. Per cent
2008        
April  149.3 -1.5  146.4 11.8
May  151.1 1.2  149.8 2.7
June  149.2 -1.2  152.3 -3.6
July  147.2 -1.4  150.6 1.1
August  147.3 0.1  147.5 -3.9
September  147.2 -0.1  141.7 0.1
October  145.1 -1.4  145.3 -3.5
November  145.5 0.3  144.3 -7.3
December  146.7 0.8  190.5 -0.1
         
2009        
January  143.7 -2.0  137.5 -3.3
February  145.3 1.1  125.9 -7.9
March  144.0 -0.9  138.6 -1.3
April  145.3 0.9  136.0 -7.1
1  Please note that the indices have been revised.