diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: Ambassador Thomas A. LOFTUS
embassy: Drammensveien 18, 0244 Oslo
mailing address: PSC 69, Box 1000, APO AE 09707
telephone: [47] 22 44 85 50
FAX: [47] 22 44 33 63

Flag: red with a blue cross outlined in white that extends to the
edges of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the
hoist side in the style of the Dannebrog (Danish flag)

Economy
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Economic overview: Norway has a mixed economy involving a
combination of free market activity and government intervention. The
government controls key areas, such as the vital petroleum sector
(through large-scale state enterprises), and extensively subsidizes
agriculture, fishing, and areas with sparse resources. Norway also
maintains an extensive welfare system that helps propel public
sector expenditures to more than 50% of GDP and results in one of
the highest average tax burdens in the world (46%). A small country
with a high dependence on international trade, Norway is basically
an exporter of raw materials and semiprocessed goods, with an
abundance of small- and medium-sized firms, and is ranked among the
major shipping nations. The country is richly endowed with natural
resources - petroleum, hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals - and
is highly dependent on its oil sector. Norway imports more than half
its food needs. Economic growth, only 1.6% in 1993, moved up to 5.5%
in 1994 and remained strong in 1995. Oslo opted to stay out of the
EU during a referendum in November 1994.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $106.2 billion (1995 est.)

GDP real growth rate: 4.5% (1995 est.)

GDP per capita: $24,500 (1995 est.)

GDP composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.9%
industry: 34.7%
services: 62.4% (1991)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.5% (1995 est.)

Labor force: 2.13 million
by occupation: services 71%, industry 23%, agriculture, forestry,
and fishing 6% (1993)

Unemployment rate: 8% (including people in job-training programs;
November 1995)

Budget:
revenues: $48.6 billion
expenditures: $53 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1994 est.)

Industries: petroleum and gas, food processing, shipbuilding, pulp
and paper products, metals, chemicals, timber, mining, textiles,
fishing

Industrial production growth rate: 7.4% (1994)

Electricity:
capacity: 27,280,000 kW
production: 118 billion kWh