Norwegian companies have faith in industry recovery

TYSVÆRVÅG. KårstøTYSVÆRVÅG. Kårstø.Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / Scanpix

Industrial production has increased slightly over the past three months. Companies expect slightly higher growth over the next half year.

Contacts in Norges Bank’s regional network, more than 300 companies, report that there have been slightly stronger than expected growth in May.

Good growth in public demand, improved competitiveness and increased demand from the oil sector has contributed to this increase.

The strongest growth has been in the domestic-oriented services, construction and traditional industries. Oil Suppliers still report a fall in production, but the decline has slowed since May.

The outlook has been revised upwards from the previous round and contacts expect moderate production growth over the next six months. Expectations are that the fall of activity in the oil industry will decline contributing to better prospects. Companies expect that public sector demand will continue to increase.

Contacts reported that employment has remained unchanged, but they are expecting a slight increase over the next three months. The overall annual wage growth this year is estimated at 2.4 percent, against 2.3 percent in May.

329 contact companies were interviewed in this round. Interviews were completed in August.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today

 

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