Denmark raises 2025 GDP outlook, benefits from Novo Nordisk's growth

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark has again raised its outlook for economic growth, fuelled by the expansion of the country's pharmaceutical industry and in particular by weightloss drug maker Novo Nordisk, the Danish economy ministry said on Thursday.

GDP for 2024 is now expected to grow by 3.0%, up from 1.9% seen in August, while the projection for 2025 was raised to 2.9% from 2.2% previously, the new forecasts showed.

"Especially the pharmaceutical industry's production and exports are fueling growth," the ministry said in a statement.

The Nordic country of 6 million people has benefited from the rapid expansion of Novo Nordisk, maker of the Wegovy weight loss drug and the Ozempic diabetes treatment, at a time when much of Europe has seen slow growth or stagnation.

Around one fifth of Denmark's employment growth was attributed to an increase in staffing at Novo Nordisk, which currently employs some 30,000 people, according to the economy ministry.

"Although Novo Nordisk is of great and increasing importance to the Danish economy, we don't envision a scenario where it's so extensive that it (growth) all comes down to Novo Nordisk," economy minister Stephanie Lose told a press conference.

The ministry expected GDP growth to ease to 1.7% in 2026.

(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, Editing by Stine Jacobsen, Terje Solsvik and Timothy Heritage)