Christmas budgets are shrinking, and many Norwegians fear overspending during the festive period. This is shown by a survey carried out by Respons Analyze for Sparebank 1 about Norwegians’ Christmas spending.
In the survey, 22 per cent state that they fear an economic backlash in January due to excessive Christmas spending. 7 percent answer that they must or may have to borrow money to cover the expenses for Christmas.
That worries consumer economist at Sparebank 1 Magne Gundersen, who encourages people to cut Christmas spending rather than spend beyond their means at Christmas.
– I would not recommend anyone to celebrate Christmas with borrowed money. The money must be paid back, with interest. I fear that some will experience a financial blue Monday in January when the credit card bill arrives, he says.
Almost half of the population, however, answer that they will start saving measures during the festive season. Buying less expensive Christmas presents (25 per cent), shopping for cheaper food and drink (18 per cent) or buying fewer gifts (16 per cent) are among the measures stated.
On average, Norwegians want to spend 5 per cent less on Christmas this year than last year, corresponding to around NOK 500 less per person, the survey shows.
The survey was carried out in the period 1 to 7 November and with a sample of 1126 people.
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