Waiting for a price jump on food – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
July is, together with February, the month of the year where the chains have the opportunity to regulate grocery prices. This happens after negotiations with the suppliers.
In February, the figures showed the strongest price increase in over 40 years. Also in June, prices increased unusually much.
The question is whether today’s figures will show a new record jump in the prices of food and drink.
– Food prices are going to rise a lot. We expect to cover approximately 5 per cent on a monthly basis, and that is what will be the biggest contributor to price growth, says Kjetil Olsen, chief economist at Nordea.
More expensive tickets this summer
The biggest price change for food and drink during a month was July 1981, when prices increased by 5.3 per cent.
The number series examined goes back to 1979.
In addition to the price development of food and drink, the economy is particularly concerned with how much air fares increase during the month.
The pilot strike in SAS lasted most of July, and contributed to the scarcity and rise in prices of flights with other companies, including Norwegian.
Interest rate meeting next week
In June, Norges Bank raised the key interest rate by 0.5 percentage points, for the first time in 20 years.
The question many are now asking is whether we will get another double net jump from the central bank as early as next week.
In Norges Bank monetary policy report from June, the central bank estimated that the so-called core inflation in July would rise by 3.2 per cent. Core inflation is the growth in consumer prices adjusted for changes in tax levels and energy prices.
A stronger price increase than this, in isolation, will pull in the direction of higher rents than what Norges Bank signaled at the June meeting.
Then the central bank said that the interest rate will most likely be raised further by 0.25 percentage points in August.
Nordea’s economists believe that it is most likely that the central bank will keep the lease plan from June, since it is a so-called intermediate meeting and a new economic analysis of the Norwegian economy (monetary policy report) will not be published.
– It depends somewhat on what the numbers show. But normally a monthly figure is a bit too small to jump into the chair, says Olsen.