Reports from the Regional Network

The reports are published four times a year: in March, June, September and December. 

Regional Network reports

Map of regional indicators

Contacts are asked a number of questions relating to economic developments. Here is a link to our standard interview guide (pdf, in Norwegian only). Finally, we ask contacts to describe their overall impression of the enterprise’s economic situation on a scale between -3 and +3. The regional indicators are an average of the contact responses in each region.

What is the purpose of the Regional Network?

The Regional Network provides information that reinforces the analyses on which Norges Bank’s monetary policy decisions are based. The information from contacts has proved to provide a reliable indication of Norwegian economic developments over time.

Regularly engaging with the economy and society often provides the Bank with information faster than publicly available statistics. Direct contact with executives also enables the Bank to obtain nuanced and granular information that is not covered by statistics or captured in a questionnaire. For that reason, both qualitative and quantitative information from network contacts are actively used in the Bank’s analyses and forecasting, and the reports are submitted to the Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee ahead of monetary policy decisions.

Starting in 2023, some changes were made to the Regional Network to increase the quality and user-friendliness of the time series.

Organisation

A total of almost 1800 contact persons are interviewed once a year. Most interviews are conducted digitally.

Regional Network contacts reflect the production side of the economy, both in terms of industry sector and geographical area.

Norway is divided into seven regions. Norges Bank has overall responsibility, but four research institutes have been engaged as network agents. The agents conduct interviews of Regional Network enterprises on behalf of Norges Bank.

The following research institutes are agents for Norges Bank’s Regional Network:

• Kunnskapsparken Bodø
• NORCE
• NTNU Samfunnsforskning
• Østlandsforskning

It is important to emphasise that the information from the Regional Network is based on some degree of judgement, in terms of the companies that are contacted and the assessments of economic developments. The reports from network contacts do not represent Norges Bank’s view of economic developments, nor that of a particular company.