Get the latest insights on the economy, industries and emerging trends that can help your business tackle the challenges it faces in today’s market. We share the learnings and perspectives of leading experts and innovators in the Nordics, both from Nordea and beyond.
Sustainability
Empowering our workforce: Nordea launches bespoke ESG training curriculum
Nordea’s Large Corporates & Institutions unit continues to invest in building the ESG expertise and skills of staff to help accelerate the transition. A new modular sustainability training programme allows employees to tailor the curriculum to their specific needs and roles.
The Nordea On Your Mind team returns to a favourite topic: financial targets. They examine how companies’ approach to targets has changed in the aftermath of a global pandemic and amid turbulence from rising geopolitical tension, inflation and interest rates.
Norges Bank has hiked its policy rate faster and warned of a higher interest rate peak than previ-ously. We think the policy rate will peak in September at 4.25%, but we are not sure it will stop there. The interest rate market is now discounting rate cuts next year. In our view, interest rates will not start to gradually move lower until 2025.
Economic activity in Norway has flattened, and unemployment has risen slightly but is still at a very low level. Higher price and wage growth and a weaker NOK have led to a steeper interest rate increase. Households and the housing market have started to feel the pinch of the rate hikes.
The Danish economy has been on a remarkable growth journey, which has boosted employment to the highest level ever. The current account surplus has risen sharply, and public finances have been positive for six years running. However, signs of an impending slowdown are starting to show.
A cold wind is still blowing through the Swedish economy. Tight monetary policy will likely gradually impact the domestic economy and Sweden’s important trading partners. Some relief is expected once inflation falls and policy rates are lowered.
Nordea Chief Economist: It's too early to declare victory over inflation
So far, the global economy has been very resilient to the significant monetary policy tightening. Inflation is still high, however, and there is a good chance monetary policy will need to be tightened further.
Finland’s investments in the green transition continue, with more money pouring into low-emission industrial production and electric transportation, in addition to wind power.
Central banks are still concerned about inflation, which is slowing down, but is still above the target level. Consequently, it will take time before monetary policy will be eased, and the global outlook continues to be weak.
The labour market in Sweden has been more resilient than expected, but several signs now indicate that the situation will worsen. There is reason to believe that the deterioration of the labour market will be relatively mild, but a weaker labour market will heighten uncertainties.
As part of the ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, vehicle taxation has been significantly changed. This has led to a sharp rise in the fleet of electric cars, while the number of diesel cars has declined. Despite this increase, there is still a long way to go to fulfil the ambition of one million zero- and low-emission cars on Danish roads in 2030.
Economic growth was healthy in the first half of the year, but the outlook going forward is clearly weaker. Higher interest rates will continue to put pressure on consumers, and residential construction. Demand for exports has also deteriorated as global economic growth has slowed down.