Economy (Norway)
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     Overview:
         Norway has a mixed economy involving a combination of free market activity
         and government intervention. The government controls key areas, such as the
         vital petroleum sector, through large-scale state enterprises and
         extensively subsidizes agricultural, fishing, and other sectors. Norway also
         maintains an extensive welfare system that helps propel public-sector
         expenditures to slightly more than 50% of the GDP and results in one of the
         highest average tax burdens in the world (54%). A small country with a high
         dependence on international trade, Norway is basically an exporter of raw
         materials and semiprocessed goods, with an abundance of small- and
         medium-sized firms, and is ranked among the major shipping nations. The
         country is richly endowed with natural resources - petroleum, hydropower,
         fish, forests, and minerals - and is highly dependent on its oil sector to
         keep its economy afloat. Although one of the government's main priorities is
         to reduce this dependency, this situation is not likely to improve for years
         to come. The government also hopes to reduce unemployment and strengthen and
         diversify the economy through tax reform and an expansionary 1992 budget.
         Forecasters predict that economic growth will rise slightly in 1992 because
         of public-sector expansion and moderate improvements in private investment
         and demand. Inflation will remain about 3%, while unemployment continues at
         record levels of over 5% because of the weakness of the economy outside the
         oil sector. Oslo, a member of the European Free Trade Area, is continuing to
         deregulate and harmonize with EC regulations to prepare for the European
         Economic Area (EEA) - which creates a EC/EFTA market with free movement of
         capital, goods, services, and labor - which takes effect in 1993.
     GDP:
         purchasing power equivalent - $72.9 billion, per capita $17,100; real growth
         rate 4.1% (1991 est.)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         3.5% (1991)
     Unemployment rate:
         5.4% (1991, excluding people in job-training programs)
     Budget:
         revenues $47.9 billion; expenditures $52.7 billion, including capital
         expenditures of $NA (1991)
     Exports:
         $34.2 billion (f.o.b., 1991)
       commodities:
         petroleum and petroleum products 36.5%, natural gas 7.5%, fish 7%, aluminum
         6%, ships 6.2%, pulp and paper
       partners:
         EC 66.5%, Nordic countries 19.5%, developing countries 7.8%, US 4.6%, Japan
         1.9% (1991)
     Imports:
         $25.1 billion (c.i.f., 1991)
       commodities:
         machinery, fuels and lubricants, transportation equipment, chemicals,
         foodstuffs, clothing, ships
       partners:
         EC 46.8%, Nordic countries 26.1%, developing countries 12.3%, US 7.8%, Japan
         4.7% (1991)
     External debt:
         $10.2 billion (1991)
     Industrial production:
         growth rate 4.7% (1991)
     Electricity:
         26,735,000 kW capacity; 121,685 million kWh produced, 28,950 kWh per capita
         (1991)