According to preliminary National Accounts figures from the EU and EFTA countries, the growth in GDP for both Norway and Switzerland is levelling out. At the same time, there are signs of recession in the EU, with a decline in GDP in the second quarter of 2008. The data from Iceland shows a sharp decline in the first quarter this year compared with the last quarter in 2007.

Compared with the second quarter in 2007, the Norwegian and Swiss GDP was respectively 3.3 and 2.3 per cent higher in second quarter 2008. The growth in Iceland was weaker, with an increase of 1.1 per cent. The figures for both EU15 and EU27 show that GDP was about 1.5 per cent higher for these countries together. This is considerably weaker growth than we have observed in previous years.