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COST OF LIVING

What will be cheaper and more expensive in Norway in 2024? 

Norway is known for its high prices. The cost of some essentials should actually fall next year. However, many things will become more expensive. 

Published: 7 December 2023 16:32 CET
Updated: 27 December 2023 11:33 CET
Pictured is a airplane parked at Oslo Gardermoen.
These are the things getting cheaper and more expensive next year. Pictured is a airplane parked at Oslo Gardermoen. Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash

Kindergarten to become cheaper 

Parents will see their childcare bills slashed at the beginning of August 2024. The reason for this is that the maximum price for a kindergarten place, excluding food and other costs, will be lowered to 2,000 kroner per month. 

This change can save families with one child up to 12,000 kroner per year and applies to both private and public kindergartens. 

When the change comes into practice, the maximum price a family will pay for kindergarten a month will be 3,400 kroner – excluding other costs such as food.

This is because a discount is applied to the second child of the same family in a kindergarten. A family’s third child and onwards receive a free space if they attend the same kindergarten as their siblings at the same time.

Only a few years ago, the maximum price for just one child was close to 3,400 kroner per month. 

Rural areas will see an even lower cap of 1,500 kroner per month. 

Online shopping could go up

When ordering from foreign stores not signed up for the VOEC (VAT on E-commerce) scheme will need to go through customs. 

Under the outgoing rules, orders under 350 kroner in value pass through customs without duty and VAT being added. 

The changes won’t affect items bought from retailers that participate in the VOEC scheme. The new rules take effect from January 1st. 

Alcohol and tobacco prices to rise 

The cost of tobacco and alcohol will increase next year due to taxes. 

The alcohol tax will increase by 3.8 percent. The tax on cigarettes will increase by 4 percent. 

Meanwhile, the price of snus will see the biggest increase. Taxes on snus will go up by 4.3 percent. 

Airfare will become more expensive 

Flying in and out of Norway will likely become more expensive next year. This is because the fees charged to airlines to use Norwegian airports will be increased to help keep state-owned airport operator Avinor afloat. 

Industry experts believe this will lead to increased airfares as the higher costs for airlines will be passed onto passengers. 

This may be offset by a reduction in the air passenger tax. The air passenger tax is directly applied to tickets and costs 80 kroner for flights within Europe and 320 kroner for flights outside Europe. 

Cost of travelling to also change

Norway’s weak krone has dominated the headlines this year. Travelling will either get cheaper or more expensive depending on whether you will be travelling into or out of Norway. 

The Norwegian krone isn’t expected to strengthen significantly next year. This means visitors can enjoy favourable exchange rates. 

However, those travelling out of Norway will suffer from a worse exchange rate. A weak exchange rate will also impact the broader cost of living. 

Exchange rates cause a lot of inflation in Norway due to the sheer number of goods imported from abroad. 

Interest rates expected to fall 

Loan and mortgage repayments could get cheaper towards the end of next year. While interest rates will likely peak in 2023, one of Norway’s largest banks expects them to fall towards the end of 2024. 

However, the rate cut isn’t expected to happen until towards Christmas 2024. 

Certain foods could soar in price 

In order to protect Norwegian-grown foods, the duty on imported vegetables will increase next year. 

This means the price of iceberg lettuce, beetroot, turnips and potatoes could all increase next year. 

It is estimated the cost of potatoes could even double per kilo. 

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ECONOMY

What lower inflation in Norway means for you 

Inflation in Norway continues to slow. However, the cost of living in the country isn’t slowing as quickly as economists expected. Here’s what that means to you. 

Published: 10 May 2024 11:44 CEST
What lower inflation in Norway means for you 

Inflation is slowing 

Norway’s Consumer Price Index, CPI, which measures changes in prices for household goods and services, has slowed yet again. 

Between April last year and the same month this year, prices in Norway rose by 3.6 percent. It marks the third time that price increases have been below four percent since the start of 2022. 

The figures, released by Norway’s national data agency Statistics Norway, mark the fourth month in a row where the 12 monthly inflation figure has been lower than the yearly figure from the month before. This means prices are rising less rapidly than before. 

“Price growth decreased for the fourth month in a row in April. Prices are still higher than they were at the same time last year for most goods and services, but they are generally rising more slowly than before,” Espen Kristiansen at Statistics Norway said. 

Food remains one of the biggest contributors to inflation 

The price of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 3.3 percent from March to April, according to Statistics Norway. 

Chocolate, soft drinks, coffee, and citrus foods saw the biggest price increases, which the national data agency called “unusual.” 

What wasn’t unusual, however, was the cost of food rising following Easter, when many supermarkets ran offers to compete for customers. 

“The rise must be seen in the context of the fact that large offer campaigns in connection with Easter dampened prices in March,” Kristiansen said. 

The figures for April show that food prices in Norway have increased by 6.8 percent compared to a year ago. 

The rising cost of food and drink in Norway could potentially outgrow wages this year, even if expected pay bumps will outpace forecasted inflation overall. 

Economists expected inflation to fall more 

Inflation hasn’t eased as much as some experts were expecting. Core inflation, which excludes energy prices and taxes, was measured at 4.4 percent year on year in April. This is above what economists surveyed by the newswire Reuters expected. 

Norges Bank, the country’s central bank, raised the policy rate to a 16-year high of 4.5 percent in December. The bank has said that inflation should generally be around two percent, so it has used interest rates to curb price increases. 

As inflation isn’t falling much quicker than expected, economists predict that the central bank may wait until December before slashing rates – which for consumers means that loan and mortgage repayments will remain high for the foreseeable future. 

“The fall in inflation has not been much greater than Norges Bank has thought. This, therefore, indicates that an interest rate cut may come in December instead of September,” Kjersti Haugland, chief economist at DNB Markets, told public broadcaster NRK. 

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