Norway’s retail sales drop in February

Norway’s retail sales declined 0.5% m/m in February as compared with January’s rise of 0.9% m/m and DNB’s forecast of a growth of 0.3%. In the month, commodity consumption index dropped 0.7% m/m as compared with January’s rise of 1.6%. The commodity consumption index is the primary indicator of private consumption of goods. For the past three months, the index has been unchanged as compared to the earlier three months.

Norway’s central bank, Norges Bank, stated that on behalf of the Norwegian government, it will sell the currency for the equivalent of NOK 900 million per day in April. This was the same in March. The central bank had forecast private consumption to grow 1.6% from 2015 to 2016.

According to the national accounts data for 2015, consumer good consumption grew softly. However, the overall private consumption recovered with the help of spending on services. Even if the retail sales data   are weak, the central bank is unlikely to put a lot of importance on the figures, according to DNB.