Norway Raises Spending to Fight Recession, Cuts GDP Outlook
Norway’s government will raise spending, adding to the country’s biggest stimulus package in more than 30 years, to jolt the oil-driven economy out of its first recession in two decades as global trade falters.
Norway will spend an extra 9.5 billion kroner ($1.5 billion) in 2009 to create jobs and galvanize demand, the Finance Ministry said in a revised budget statement today. That brings total stimulus measures this year as a percentage of gross domestic product to 3 percent, compared with a January target of 2.3 percent.
The Labor-led government of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, which faces an election in September, is announcing its second set of stimulus measures since unveiling this year’s budget in October personal loans for bad credit. Initiatives include more spending on health care, education, daycare and infrastructure, with job creation a primary goal.
The country’s mainland economy, which excludes oil, gas and shipping, will shrink 1 percent in 2009, the government said, cutting a January estimate for stagnation.
Filed under: economics by Wolf