Norges Bank won’t follow Europeans

The European Central Bank cut its already-low key interest rate last week but Norway’s own central bank didn’t follow along. The board of Norges Bank decided on Wednesday to keep its key lending rate unchanged at 1.5 percent. “Overall developments in the Norwegian economy have been broadly in line with expectations,” Jan F Qvigstad, deputy [...]

Finance minister ‘on steady course’

Norway’s left-center government coalition aims to keep the country’s strong economy on what Finance Minister Sigbjørn Johnsen called “a steady course” when he released the government’s revised state budget on Tuesday. Opposition politicians claim he’s spreading Norway’s wealth much too thinly. “Careful economic management is critical to secure good development in the Norwegian economy,” Johnsen [...]

Labour’s tax relief upstages Høyre

On the very day that Norway’s Conservative Party (Høyre) was wrapping up its national meeting and rallying its troops to seize government power, Labour Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and his finance minister, Sigbjørn Johnsen, were revving up their own power themselves. They gleefully launched a so-called economic “growth package” aimed at boosting private business through [...]

Finance minister closes tax loophole

Finance Minister Sigbjørn Johnsen said Monday that the government was poised to shut a tax loophole that’s been exploited by multinational companies doing business in Norway. Now the government intends to limit the possibilities they have to move profits among various units to avoid tax liability. Through use of creative accounting and exploiting differences in [...]

Overtime mediation averted strike

Norway’s labour federations LO and YS came to terms with national employers’ organization NHO at around 3am on Monday, after three hours of mediation in overtime that ultimately averted a major strike. Their agreement provides modest pay raises across the board, plus a special wage boost for lowest-paid union members. All parts involved claimed they [...]

Strike threat looms Monday

Ferries, flights, other forms of public transport, shipyards and even supplies of beer and soft drinks will be disrupted next week, if nearly 20,000 members of various unions around Norway are called out on strike. Bus service in the Oslo area, for example, will be halted from early Monday if mediation fails over the weekend. [...]

Tax forms released to 3.9 million

In what’s long been a rite of spring, the Norwegian tax authority Skatteetaten released the bulk of its tax returns for 2012 on Tuesday to 3.9 million workers, retirees and small business owners in Norway. Along with them came the annual warnings that taxpayers still need to monitor their returns, even though they’re largely filled [...]

Central bank keeps interest rate low

Norges Bank announced on Thursday that its key lending rate, so-called “styringsrenten,” will remain unchanged at 1.5 percent. The bank board decided that unless the Norwegian economy is suddenly subjected to any major new shocks, the interest rate level should lie between 1 and 2 percent at least until the bank’s next report is published in [...]

‘Challenging’ pay negotiations begin

Wage negotiations between Norway’s confederation of trade unions LO and the national employers’ organization NHO were getting underway this week, with LO leader Roar Flåthen saying that pay issues were “especially challenging” this year. Norway’s strong economy versus budget and debt crises abroad make it harder for the unions to demand big raises. On the [...]

High costs won’t halt good times

The average hourly wage costs of an industrial worker in Norway are now more than eight times that of a worker in Poland, according to a recent government report, and that’s added to fears that the country’s economic good times will soon stop rolling. Analysts at state statistics bureau SSB, however, say they’re only “a [...]

Euro crisis hits industry harder

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has been issuing more warnings about the ill effects of the European economic crisis on Norwegian industry, and many companies are facing harder times this year. Others  remain optimistic and have more faith in 2014. Stoltenberg, who’s been warning of an economic downturn since the finance crisis first hit, made some [...]

State loans pose new debt risks

Stricter borrowing rules in Norway have left higher-income groups struggling to get a home loan through commercial banks, and led to a rush of new applicants to the state-backed housing financier Husbanken. Its loans are easier to obtain, and that’s setting off new fears of lending that’s too risky. Husbanken’s mortgages, traditionally called a startlån (literally, [...]

No sweet Valentine from bank boss

Norway’s strong economy and disciplined approach to the management of its oil wealth didn’t stop the boss of the country’s central bank from sending out warnings instead of Valentine’s Day greetings on Thursday. Øystein Olsen told the country’s government and business leaders in his annual address that even though the offshore sector continues to boom, [...]

Høyre backs big fortune tax cuts

With the campaign well underway towards national elections later this year, Norway’s leading opposition party Høyre (The  Conservatives Party) has proposed making large cuts in the country’s unpopular fortune tax (formueskatt). The proposal was met with resistance, however, even from all of Høyre’s potential coalition partners, who say the cuts will only benefit the wealthiest [...]

Household debt hits record levels

Norwegian homeowners’ debt levels have skyrocketed over the last eight years, with some now paying down mortgages that are three times larger than average loan amounts in 2004, according to fresh data. On average, mortgage amounts are up 55 percent in just five years, and consumer debt has risen as well, but Norwegians are still [...]

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