Norway central bank survey: Fewer business leaders expect profits to rise

OSLO: Fewer Norwegian company bosses expect profitability to rise in the next 12 months, a quarterly survey commissioned by the country's central bank showed on Thursday.

In total, 32.2 percent of business leaders now expect an improvement, against 33.7 percent in a similar poll in August.

Meanwhile, 44.3 percent predicted unchanged profitability compared to 46.5 percent in August, while 16.7 percent see a decline against 14.8 percent who did so three months ago.

On wages, Norway's labour unions and employers' organisations maintained expectations for 2.5 percent growth in 2017 and 2.8 percent next year.

The survey is carried out by analysis firm Epinion on behalf of the central bank.