Norway’s industrial sentiment worsened last quarter to its lowest level since the pandemic, in a sign that manufacturers in the Nordic country are increasingly suffering from higher prices and credit costs.
The industrial confidence indicator declined to minus 5.3 in the second quarter, the worst since the three-month period ending June 2020, according to data from Statistics Norway on Tuesday.
“Manufacturing in Norway is beginning to suffer despite having enjoyed the buffer from petroleum-related manufacturing,” Kristoffer Kjaer Lomholt, head of FX and corporate research at Danske Bank A/S, said.
“Details unsurprisingly reveal that consumer goods and not least intermediate goods are pulling the aggregate index lower while capital goods remain in expansionary territory — although far less than previously,” he said, citing also weakness in orders and capacity utilization.
The data so far this year has shown that the richest Nordic economy on a per-capita basis has continued to hold up well in the face of stubborn inflation and a string of borrowing cost increases, mainly helped by growing business investment and robust exports. Economic growth resumed in May, supporting expectations of further tightening of the benchmark rate by Norges Bank from the current 3.75% level.
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--With assistance from Ainhoa Goyeneche.
