Norway’s consumer prices increased at the slowest pace since early 2021 and core inflation reached the lowest since May 2022, raising chances of early interest rate cuts.
Consumer price inflation softened to 2.6 percent in June from 3.0 percent in May, Statistics Norway said Wednesday. The rate was the weakest since January 2021.
At the same time, core inflation came in at 3.4 percent, down from 4.1 percent in the previous month. A similar lower rate was last reported in May 2022.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages prices advanced 4.9 percent from a year ago and alcoholic beverages and tobacco cost moved up 4.4 percent, data showed.
Both overall consumer prices and core consumer prices gained 0.2 percent each on a monthly basis in June.
In a separate communique, the statistical office said producer price inflation accelerated to 3.4 percent in June from 3.2 percent in the previous month. On a monthly basis, producer prices gained 0.5 percent.
At the June monetary policy meeting, Norges Bank had kept its key policy rate unchanged at 4.5 percent and suggested that the rate will continue to stay at the current level to the end of the year, before gradually being reduced.
The central bank had projected inflation to fall further and approach 2 percent towards the end of 2027.
Inflation is likely to fall faster than the forecast of Norges Bank, Capital Economics’ economist Jack Allen-Reynolds said. The bank is set to start cutting interest rates before the end of this year, rather than waiting until 2025 as its current guidance suggests, the economist added.
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