WallStreetJournal 12-01-16

Norway Trade Surplus Grows

By CHARLES DUXBURY

Norway's trade surplus got a big boost from rising oil prices in December, growing 10.8% from a year earlier to 41.2 billion Norwegian kroner ($6.8 billion), official data showed Monday.

Imports rose 2% on the year to 40.1 billion kroner, and exports climbed 6.3% to 81.2 billion kroner.

The country exported 30.1 billion kroner of crude oil in December, a rise of 6.7% compared with December 2010, the national data agency said.

"The per barrel mean price has remained above 600 [kroner] since February and was 655 [kroner] in December," Statistics Norway noted. "This was almost 100 [kroner] higher than a year earlier."

The export value of natural gas in December was 21.4 billion kroner, 8.1% higher than in the corresponding month in 2010.

"Neither the exports nor the trade surplus have been this large since 2008," the statistics agency said.