Mainland Norway's economy expanded at the fastest pace in nearly five years in the fourth quarter and the expansion exceeded economists' expectations, preliminary data from Statistics Norway showed on Friday.
Gross domestic product excluding the shipping and petroleum sectors grew 0.9 percent from the third quarter, when the economy expanded 0.4 percent. Economists had forecast growth of 0.7 percent.
The latest pace of growth was the fastest since the second quarter of 2014, when the economy expanded at the same pace.
The statistical office attributed the improvement in the pace of expansion partly to low growth in the third quarter due to the unusually dry summer weather.
Household consumption grew 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter after a decline in the previous three months. Investments shrunk 2.4 percent. Exports grew 4.9 percent, while imports fell 1 percent.
The full year growth accelerated to 2.2 percent in 2018 from 2 percent in 2017.
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