Norwegian trade surplus shrinks by two-thirds in August

OSLO: Norway said Thursday its trade surplus shrank by two-thirds in August on a yearly basis, hammered by a combination of higher imports and declining exports of natural gas, marking one of its worst results since 1999.

The surplus stood at 6.8 billion kroner ($825 million, 729 million euros) in August, a drop of 67.5 percent compared with a year earlier, the national statistics institute SSB said.

Exports fell by 13.1 percent, hit by natural gas sales that plunged 42.2 percent, with imports increasing by a nearly 11 percent.

Outside of hydrocarbons and shipbuilding, Norway's trade balance had a deficit of 19.4 billion kroner.

Since the beginning of the year, Norway's trade deficit has shrunk by 48.3 percent compared with the same period in 2015.