Norway's retail trade growth slowed to 0.6 percent year-on-year in October 2018 from an upwardly revised 1 percent in the previous month, due to a slowdown in sales not in stores, stalls and markets (10.6 percent vs 12.9 percent in September); other household equipment (1.7 percent vs 2.2 percent). Additionally, there were decreases in sales of food, beverages and tobacco (-1.4 percent vs 1.2 percent); automotive fuel (-4.3 percent vs -0.2 percent); cultural and recreation goods (-2.6 percent vs -1.8 percent); and other goods (-0.3 percent vs 2.4 percent). On the other hand, sales rose faster for information and communication equipment (7.2 percent vs 1.9 percent). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail trade fell by 0.2 percent in October, following a downwardly revised 0.6 percent drop in September and missing market consensus of a 0.1 percent rise. Retail Sales YoY in Norway averaged 2.04 percent from 2001 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 8.90 percent in April of 2007 and a record low of -4.40 percent in April of 2016.
Retail Sales YoY in Norway is expected to be 2.50 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Retail Sales YoY in Norway to stand at 2.50 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Norway Retail Sales YoY is projected to trend around 2.00 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.