Building materials and clothing stores pulled up. Petrol stations and groceries contributed the most to the decline.
Less than 40 minutes ago
Updated less than 10 minutes ago
Turnover in the retail trade increased by 0.3 per cent in volume from February to March. It shows fresh, seasonally adjusted figures from Statistics Norway’s goods trade index.
– There were mostly small changes in the retail industries in March. Hardware stores and clothing stores contributed the most to the overall upswing, while gas stations and grocery stores contributed most to the downside, says senior advisor Anders Falla Aas at Statistics Norway in a press release.
Overall for the first three months of the year, there was a decrease of 0.4 per cent compared to the last quarter in 2023.
– Not much that screams interest rate cuts
Chief economist at Handelsbanken, Marius Gonsholt Hov writes in a morning report that the figures were somewhat stronger than expected “when we take the positive revision into account”.
– There are few who howl for interest rate cuts during the day, he sums up.
The chief economist explains that over a long period of time we have seen that the retail turnover has varied around the zero line.
– This is also the view of the very short-term development going forward, which is also baked into Norges Bank’s forecasts. The central bank expects that consumption as a whole will be fairly unchanged until the summer, he writes.
Norges Bank has raised the interest rate at a high pace for over 2.5 years from 0 to 4.5 per cent. The central bank hopes to cool down activity and thereby overcome the rise in prices. If the shopping figures rise a lot, this may point in isolation to increased activity.
