Norway’s retail sales increased at a faster-than-expected pace in February, after falling in the previous month, figures from Statistics Norway showed Friday.
Retail sales volume, excluding motor vehicle sales, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent month-over-month in February, in contrast to a 0.7 percent drop in January. Economists had expected a 0.5 percent rise for the month.
On an annual basis, retail sales volume climbed a working-day-adjusted 1.7 percent in February, slower than previous month’s 1.4 percent increase.
Data from Norway’s labor and welfare agency NAV showed that the unemployment rate in the country edged down as expected.
The jobless rate came in at 3.0 percent in March, the same rate as in the previous month. That was in line with economists’ expectations.
The number of persons registered as unemployed with NAV totaled 81,011 in March, down from 81,504 in the preceding month. A year earlier, the total jobless figures was 76,925.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com