The board of Norway’s central bank, Norges Bank, opted once again to keep its key lending rate low and unchanged at 0.5 percent on Thursday. The bank itself now predicts that interest rates will remain low for several years ahead.
“Monetary policy remains expansive and supports restructuring of the Norwegian economy,” central bank chief Øystein Olsen stated when releasing the bank board’s latest interest rate decision. “The executive board’s current assessment of the outlook suggests that the key policy rate will remain at today’s level in the period ahead.”
If anything, he noted, economic forecasts imply a “slightly higher probability of a decrease” in interest rates than an increase. Even though the US Federal Reserve moved to raise rock-bottom rates this week, little movement is expected in Norway as the country’s economy recovers from the oil price collapse and weakening of the Norwegian krone, according to Thursday’s central bank report.
newsinenglish.no staff
