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ECONOMY

Workers in Norway to enjoy highest real wage increase for a decade

Real pay rises in Norway will be at the highest level for a decade this year, national data agency Statistics Norway said in its latest economic forecasts.

Pictured is a person in a cafe in Norway.
Workers in Norway can look forward to an increase to real wages in the coming year. Pictured is a person in a cafe in Norway. Photo by Thomas Litangen on Unsplash

Statistics Norway said in a report released Friday that Norway’s economy is set to pick up in the coming years and that workers will benefit as a result.

“Now the arrows are pointing upwards in many areas. Activity in the Norwegian economy will probably pick up, as a result of increased real wage growth, high activity in public administration, as well as a turnaround in housing investment,” Thomas von Brasch at Statistics Norway said in the report.

The report was a forecast on the country’s economy up until 2027. The data agency said that workers in Norway would benefit from a real wage increase of 1.9 percent this year.

Forecasted real wage growth for this year would be the highest in more than ten years, as real pay in Norway has been largely stagnant since 2015. There was also more good news for consumers, as real wages are expected to grow by around 1.5 percent per year until 2027.

Further good news for those hoping for more disposal income in the future could come in the form of interest rate cuts early next year. Statistics Norway expects the central bank to cut the key policy rate in March 2025.

The reason rates likely won’t be cut before then is due to the weak Norwegian krone.

“Norges Bank will probably try to avoid the krone weakening further. The central bank will probably wait with the interest rate cuts until after other central banks have cut their interest rates a good deal. The recent weakening of the krone means that the key interest rate will only be cut from the beginning of next year,” Brasch said.

However, the report wasn’t all good news. Inflation in Norway was likely to remain above the central bank’s target of 2 percent for this year, at least.

There was also bad news for those looking to get on the property ladder as house prices were expected to rise in the coming years. Although, high interest rates would dampen prices somewhat.

READ ALSO: What first-time buyers in Norway need to know about the current property market

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POLITICS

How Norway’s 2025 budget will impact foreign residents

Norway’s government won’t unveil its budget for another few weeks, but several proposals, such as income tax cuts, have already been made public. Here's how foreign residents in Norway will be affected.

How Norway's 2025 budget will impact foreign residents

Norway’s budget for 2025 will be unveiled on October 7th. It is the last budget the current government will present before the general election next year.

Tax cuts

Finance minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum said this summer that those on ordinary incomes would pay less income tax in 2025. How much income tax will be cut is currently unknown.

Tax residents of Norway currently pay a flat tax rate of 22 percent, and then a further “bracket tax” based on how much they earn. For example, those who earn up to 670,000 kroner per year pay a four percent bracket tax, while those making between 670,001 and 937,900 kroner pay a 13.6 percent bracket tax.

READ ALSO: How does Norway’s bracket tax for income work?

Norway’s tax card system would also be tweaked to benefit those with part-time jobs. Next year, you can earn up to 100,000 before paying tax. This could benefit foreign students in Norway.

Finances

The government will continue its electric subsidy for households next year. The government announced its intention to continue the policy this spring.

Currently, the state covers 90 percent of the electricity price above 73 øre per kWh – or 91.25 øre including VAT.

Residents of Norway’s 212 least central municipalities will have 25,000 kroner of their student loans written off per year from 2026.

Those in Finnmark and Nord-Troms will have their loans written off at a rate of 60,000 kroner a year.

READ MORE: The incentives to attract people to northern Norway

Crime

The government will spend an extra 2.8 billion kroner on fighting crime. Of this, 2.4 billion kroner will go directly to beefing up the number of police officers in Norway. Some 90 million kroner would be put towards cracking down on financial crime.

Furthermore, 405 million kroner would also be spent on fighting youth crime, by creating a fast track court for young offenders and creating more juvenile detention places.

Travel changes

Up to 2.9 billion kroner extra spending will go into maintaining Norway’s rail infrastructure. Signal and track failures have been a constant source of delays in east Norway, where services regularly struggle with punctuality.

Over 12 billion kroner will be spent on Norway’s rail system.

Norway could finally reveal more details on its proposed tourist tax. The country’s industry minister, Cecilie Myrseth, has previously said that a proposal would be tabled this autumn.

The minister didn’t say whether this would be related to the raft of proposals included in the budget.

A potential tourist tax has long been promised by the current government as part of the Hurdal Agreement it was formed on in 2021.

As part of its budget cooperation with the Socialist Left Party, the government will be required to assess whether a subsidy scheme should be introduced for long-distance bus travel in Norway.

Bus routes without an alternative, such as train, could be subsidised under the scheme.

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