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Cost of living: Has inflation in Norway peaked? 

Frazer Norwell
Frazer Norwell - [email protected]
Cost of living: Has inflation in Norway peaked? 
A bag of groceries. Photo by Maria Lin Kim on Unsplash

Prices in Norway have risen by 6.3 percent over the past 12 months, but inflation in the country may have peaked, Norway’s national data agency said Friday. 

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Norway’s consumer price index (CPI), a measure of inflation, rose by 6.3 percent between February 2023 and the same month 12 months before, figures from Norway’s national data agency, Statistics Norway (SSB), show

“The most important reason why price growth continues to remain high is food prices. In addition, cars, rent and restaurant services are other important components that keep price growth up,” Espen Kristiansen from Statistics Norway said in a report on the data agency’s latest inflation figures. 

However, the CPI for February 2023 was lower than the inflation figures for January, which measured price growth in Norway at seven percent over the 12 months from the beginning of last year. Lower food price hikes contributed to the lower CPI figures for February. 

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“From January to February last year, food prices increased very much. This year, however, we measured a relatively modest rise in food prices from January to February. This meant that the twelve-month growth in February fell from the previous month,” Kristiansen said. 

The lower CPI between January and February of this year could be interpreted as a sign that inflation in Norway has peaked, according to the SSB. 

“We think we have probably reached the top,” Thomas von Brasch, head of research at the SSB, said in an analysis of the Norwegian economy

“Now I think we are at a turning point. Inflation must go down, and unemployment must go up,” von Brasch added. 

READ ALSO: Should workers in Norway fear job cuts in the near future?

The head of research explained that international factors heavily influence inflation, and with global prices on the way down, Norway could expect price growth to slow. 

“Last year, price growth here at home was lifted because prices rose internationally. Now the prices internationally are on the way down, and then the prices will also go down here at home,” von Brasch said. 

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