Inflation has fallen faster than expected in Norway and Denmark, fuelling expectations that central banks in the region will stop raising interest rates in response to the cooling of price pressures and falling economic output.
The figures, mirroring similar steeper-than-expected falls in other European countries, are contributing to a shift in sentiment away from concern about the soaring cost of living to worries over whether hefty increases in borrowing costs could deepen a likely economic downturn.
Norwegian consumer price inflation slowed to a 20-month low of 3.3 per cent in the year to September, which was down from 4.8 per cent in August and well below the 4.2 per cent forecast by Norges Bank, the country’s central bank.