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Norwegians' faith in the economy has plummeted

NTB/The Local
NTB/The Local - [email protected]
Norwegians' faith in the economy has plummeted
A full 70 percent of respondents said the economy has gone in the wrong direction. Photo: Heiko Junge / SCANPIX

Confidence in the Norwegian economy is at an all-time low.

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A new consumer survey from Finance Norway shows that confidence in the Norwegian economy is at an all-time low and that EU consumers are more optimistic than Norwegians for the third quarter in a row. 
 
The main indicator in the consumer survey has not been lower since the Norway’s banking and housing crisis of 1992. 
 
The only other time consumer confidence approached the low levels seen now was during the wake of the financial crisis, when consumer confidence was at -8.5 in the fourth quarter of 2008 and -8.7 in the first quarter of 2009. Still, neither of those come close to the -16.2 recorded in January 2016. 
 
The indicator expresses the difference between optimistic and pessimistic responses to five standard questions in the survey. 
 
Despite the numbers, Finance Norway CEO Idar Kreutzer said it’s important not to exaggerate the fear of a downturn in the Norwegian economy and concerns about rising unemployment. 
 
“Most people have a secure job and won’t be affected by the problems faced by parts of the Norwegian industry. If falling confidence and increased unemployment make individual households overreact by increasing their savings and tightening consumption it can affect sectors of the Norwegian industry,” Kreutzer said. 
 
The biggest thing to drag down the barometer in January was Norwegians’ assessment of how the country’s economy has performed over the past year. A full 70 percent said that it has been worse than expected while just 4.9 percent thought it had beaten expectations. That gives an index figure of -63.6 percent. The question of whether consumers expected the economy to improve over the coming year resulted in an index score of -49.5. 
 
As in previous barometers, Norwegians still have more faith in their own economic situation than in that of the country as a whole. But that too has gone down in the latest survey. It is particularly those with high education levels who express uncertainty about the future. 
 
“We now see that the low confidence in the country’s economy is influencing people’s confidence in their own situation. We can see that more people are preparing for hard times by postponing major purchases and spending less on vehicles and travel,” Kreutzer said. 

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