New figures from state statistics bureau SSB indicate that Norwegians are saving even less than they already were. Tax laws in Norway don’t offer much incentive to save, and low interest rates haven’t made savings banks very attractive.
SSB’s numbers show that household savings rates, as a percentage of disposable income, have fallen from 8.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 to just 5.9 percent in the first quarter of this year.
In cash terms, money in savings accounts fell by NOK 7 billion from the fourth quarter of 2009, to around NOK 18 billion.
Kjersti Haugland, senior economist at DnB NOR Markets, told newspaper Dagens Nærinigsliv (DN) that she thinks the decline is linked to “extreme uncertainty over the economy” and how the finance crisis will ultimately play out in Norway.
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