Norwegian Industrial Output Growth Exceeds Forecast In January

 Industrial production in Norway increased more than economists expected in January, data released by Statistics Norway showed Wednesday.

Industrial output increased a working-day adjusted 3 percent year-on-year in January, sharply faster than the 0.8 percent growth economists expected.

Output of intermediate goods climbed 8.8 percent year-on-year, while capital goods production advanced 9.4 percent. Meanwhile, there was a 4.9 percent annual decrease in the production of consumer goods during the month.

Production in the manufacturing industry advanced 1.7 percent annually. Month-on-month, factory output rose a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent during the month.

Compared to December, overall industrial production moved up a seasonally adjusted 4.5 percent in January, while economists were looking for a 0.4 percent increase. In the November-January period, total production in Norwegian industries edged down 0.3 percent from the preceding three-month period.