2023.12.1108:32:00UTC+00Norway Core Inflation Slows In November

Norway's core inflation softened in November, while consumer price inflation accelerated to a three-month high, Statistics Norway reported Monday.

Core inflation eased to 5.8 percent, while the rate was expected to remain unchanged at 6.0 percent.

By contrast, the consumer price index posted an annual growth of 4.8 percent, faster than October's 4.0 percent increase. A similar high rate was last seen in August. The rate was forecast to rise to 4.9 percent.

Month-on-month, overall inflation halved to 0.5 percent from 1.0 percent in October. Inflation was also below economists' forecast of 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, core consumer prices were down 0.2 percent.

As today's inflation data broadly matched Norges Bank's forecast in September, Capital Economics' Bradley Saunders said the central bank is set to push ahead with one final quarter point rate hike on December 14, taking the policy rate to a 15-year high.

Another data from Statistics Norway showed that producer prices continued to decline in November. Producer prices slid 15.6 percent annually after a 10.9 percent drop a month ago. Prices have been falling since January 2023.

On a monthly basis, producer prices fell 0.3 percent, in contrast to October's 5.2 percent increase.