SME Malaysia – July 2019

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and fiscal discipline. In anticipation of eventual declines in oil and

gas production, Norway saves state revenue from petroleum sector

activities in the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, valued at over

US$1 trillion at the end of 2017. To help balance the federal budget

each year, the government follows a ‘fiscal rule’, which states that

spending of revenues from petroleum and fund investments shall

correspond to the expected real rate of return on the fund, an

amount it estimates is sustainable over time.

Norway is not a member of the European Union—it opted out

of the EU during a referendum in November 1994. However, as a

member of the European Economic Area, Norway partially partici-

pates in the EU’s single market and contributes sizably to the EU

budget. The country is also part of the Schengen immigration area.

NORWEGIAN TRADE WITH ASEAN Norway was the first European

(albeit non-EU) country to enter into a formal partnership with

the ASEAN trading bloc in 2015. The country was accepted as a

Sectoral Dialogue Partner, allowing Norwegian stakeholders to

have a better say in areas like energy, climate change, biodiversity,

H

igh up in the north of Europe, Norway is a

symbol of Scandinavian economic strength.

With a vibrant private sector, a large state

sector, and an extensive social safety net,

Norwegians enjoy some of the highest

standards of living in the entire world.

Norway is richly endowed with natural

resources such as oil and gas, fish, forests, and minerals. It is a lead-

ing producer and the world’s second largest exporter of seafood,

after China. In particular, Norwegian salmon is well-known the

world over for being the highest grade of salmon available. In fact,

Japanese people didn’t start using salmon for sushi until Norwegian

exports convinced them otherwise in the 1990s.

The other significant contributor to Norway’s economy is the

oil and gas sector. The petroleum sector provides about 9 per cent

of jobs, 12 per cent of GDP, 13 per cent of the state’s revenue, and

37 per cent of exports, according to official national estimates.

Unlike many other oil-rich nations, Norway has carefully

shepherded its oil wealth through extensive government regulation

NORWAY:

BY

ONG XIANG

HONG

TRADE

Official name: Kingdom of Norway (Kongeriket Norge) Capital: Oslo Land area: 304,282 sq km Population: 5,372,191 (July 2018 est.)

Languages: Norwegian (official), English widely spoken Currency: Norwegian kroner GDP: US$381.2 billion (2017 est.) GDP per capita:

US$72,100 (2017 est.) Main exports: petroleum and petroleum products, machinery and equipment, metals, chemicals, ships, fish Main

export partners: United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Belgium, Denmark, United States Main imports: machinery and equipment, chemicals,

metals, foodstuffs Main import partners: Sweden, Germany, China, United States, South Korea, Denmark, United Kingdom Country code top-level domain: .no