focus appears to have shifted to some extent from cost cutting to strategies for boosting income. both the public and private sectors appear to be somewhat more positive about investment plans, but are still not signalling significant growth in investment over the next year. lower interest rates have contributed to more positive expectations concerning future developments. few market participants believe that there has been any real impact yet, but many expect an improvement in the near future. contacts in the regional network in central norway believe that a rise in retail trade and household services is contributing somewhat to growth in the region, as is the case in the rest of the country. growth now appears to be strong enough to hold up the level of employment. manufacturing output increased slightly in the previous quarter. there is continued growth in retail trade. gjelsvik, m and t. høyvarde clausen. ( 2003 ). verdiskapingsevnen i norske storbyregioner. rapport 2003 / 144. rogalandsforskning. the construction industry continues to report some growth in central norway. increased activity in rural districts has reduced the previous differences between urban and rural areas. house sales are on the increase and there has been an appreciable rise in house prices. a rise in the number of new orders in manufacturing and the construction industry is generating expectations that growth will continue. most markets report intensified competition. this is partly a result of a rise in imports in some industries and increased capacity in retail trade. margins are being reduced. in central norway, as in the rest of the country, lower interest rates have contributed to more positive expectations concerning future developments. there are wide regional variations in unemployment. at the end of october, 3. 9 per cent of the labour force in central norway was registered as unemployed. this is slightly higher than the national average of 3. 8 per cent. all regions of the country have reported an increase in unemployment in the past year, although in central norway the increase has been relatively low. this is probably related to the industry structure with a relatively high share of employees in the public service sector. reports from the regional network indicate that employment in the public sector will remain more or less constant in the period ahead, while there are indications of growth in some private business sectors. the start - up of rica nidelven hotel generated 100 new jobs but also keener competition in trondheim ’ s hotel industry. as i mentioned earlier, this snapshot report on the current situation in this part of

one year earlier, and almost 30 per cent lower than in 1995. in addition to low external price inflation for these goods, lower tariffs for clothing have translated into lower consumer prices. the removal of quota regulations has also led to a shift in clothing imports away from high - cost countries to countries with considerably lower production costs. the same trend has been observed for the audiovisual industry. since the mid - 1990s, prices for audiovisual equipment have fallen markedly. in october, prices for these goods were 8. 5 per cent lower than one year earlier. international producers have moved production to low - cost countries, allowing them to reduce prices charged to norwegian importers. in addition, new technology and intensified international competition have exerted downward pressure on prices. global economic growth has been considerably weaker than expected. changes in the economic outlook are clearly reflected in interest rate expectations. in the us, these expectations have been adjusted downwards considerably since summer 2002. at that time, market participants expected the key rate in the us to be increased to about 4 per cent towards the end of 2003. now, interest rates are believed to have reached their lowest level and are expected to remain at 1 per cent until the end of 2003, with only a gradual rise thereafter. interest rates were also expected to increase markedly in europe in summer 2002. instead, interest rates were also reduced here and expectations were revised downwards substantially. the lower projections for growth reflect the effect on the world economy of a number of negative shocks, such as the war in iraq and the sars outbreak. it may have taken longer than first expected to correct imbalances generated by overoptimism in sectors such as the it industry. high oil prices may also have contributed to restraining growth. the combination of low international interest rates and weak cyclical developments contributed to high interest rate differentials against the krone and the strong exchange rate. activity in the global economy has picked up from the low level prevailing last winter, primarily reflecting high growth in the us and some asian economies, including japan. recent statistics show that the annual rate of gdp growth in the us was 7. 2 per cent in the third quarter of 2003. strong growth in private consumption and a rise in business investment are evidence of a gradual and broadbased upturn. employment figures are also showing a positive trend and unemployment is falling. following the meetings of the open market committee in august, september and october, the federal reserve stated that there is a risk of a further and undes