Erica Dalsto, Chief Strategist at Seaboard (SEB) Norway, noted that Norway's mainland GDP growth slowed in the third quarter, reinforcing the bank's expectation that the Norwegian central bank will implement two rate cuts in 2026.
Quarterly mainland GDP growth decelerated to 0.1% from a downwardly revised 0.5% in Q2. The figure was slightly below market consensus and significantly lower than the central bank's projection of 0.4%. Dalsto added that while substantial revisions to historical data impacted the results, weaker-than-expected economic growth and employment figures corroborate other data suggesting downside risks to the central bank's forecasts.
"Although this should be an encouraging sign for underlying inflationary pressures, unemployment remains low. We reiterate that wage growth trends will be decisive for the rate cut outlook," Dalsto stated.
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