The Government’s first meeting on the budget for 2024

– Inflation is at its highest level since the 1980s. This has made financial planning more difficult for families, businesses and providers of public services. The government will present a financially responsible budget, where we prioritise the expenses imposed on us by the war in Ukraine, public services, and helping those who are most in need, Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum said.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has had major ripple effects on economic developments both at home and abroad. Energy prices are still higher than normal, although they have come down from the record levels seen last autumn. The war necessitates increased expenditure in several areas. Among other things, Norway provides direct support through the so-called Nansen programme for Ukraine and recieves many refugees. Defence and preparedness are an important Government priority.

– The government is now meeting to start work on the budget for 2024. We will create more opportunities for people throughout the country. Although higher prices have dampened purchasing power for many households, developments in the Norwegian economy have been stronger than we anticipated going into this year. We have a good starting point to tackle the challenges we are facing and to bring inflation down without unduly affecting employment, Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum said.

Empolyment has been strong, increasing by 110 000 people last year, of which 102 000 in the private sector. Wage growth last year was also higher than expected. Consumer price inflation is the highest in decades and substantially higher than forecast last year. The projections produced for the government's budget conference indicate that registered unemployment will remain low at 2.0 per cent in 2024 and that economic activity will remain high.

Tabel 1: Key figures for the Norwegian economy

Percentage volume change from previous year, unless otherwise stated

	Bn. NOK1		Projections
	2022	2022	2023	2024
Private consumption .................................	1 805.0	6.8	0.8	1.8
Public consumption...................................	1 036.1	0.1	0.8	..
Gross fixed investment .............................	1 096.2	4.4	0.5	0.9
Of which: petroleum extraction and                             ..pipeline transportation..............................	177.9	-5.5	3.8	4.2
Business sector mainland Norway	448.4	14.5	1.8	3.3
Housing ....................................	232.1	-1.4	-5.3	-2.4
Public sector ............................	237.1	0.9	0.8	..
Demand from mainland Norway2..............	3 758.6	4.8	0.6	1.2
Exports.......................................................	3 100.6	5.9	3.9	2.6
Of which: Crude oil and natural gas ..........	1 972.9	0.3	3.9	3.9
Exports from mainland Norway…….	947.0	9.4	5.1	3.3
Imports.......................................................	1 521.8	9.3	2.6	1.9
Gross domestic product ...........................	5 569.2	3.3	1.3	1.5
Of which: mainland Norway......................	3 569.3	3.8	0.9	1.4
Other key figures:
Employment, persons ..............................		3.9	0.7	0.2
Unemployment rate, LFS (level)................		3.2	3.5	3.6
Unemployment level, registered (level )…		1.8	1.9	2.0
GDP growth among trading partners3.......		3.2	0.8	1.6

¹ Preliminary national account figures in current prices.

² Excluding inventory changes.

³ Norway’s 25 most important trading partners weighted by respective shares of Norwegian exports, excluding oil and gas.

 

Sources: Statistics Norway, OECD, national sources, Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration and Ministry of Finance.