Norway’s central bank chief made some economically sobering remarks in his closely watched annual address to the country’s elite Thursday evening. Even though the Norwegian economy remains strong, he stressed that trade deficits are rising, the country’s krone is historically weak, and politicians are leaning too heavily on Norway’s so-called Oil Fund meant to fund […]
No new rise in interest rates
December 19, 2019
Norway’s central bank handed out an early holiday gift to borrowers on Thursday, when it confirmed that its executive board had opted against another interest rate hike. The krone strengthened anyway, but that’s probably tied to higher oil prices. Norges Bank’s board announced that its policy rate would remain at 1.5 percent. The policy rate […]
‘Much lower growth’ in oil investments
December 12, 2019
The chief economist for the Norwegian national employers’ organization NHO is the latest to issue a sobering outlook that may only cheer anti-oil climate activists like Greta Thunberg: Norway’s economic growth will slow down, Øystein Dørum predicts, mostly because of “much lower growth in oil investments, and then a decline.” Dørum, who worked many years […]
Economic upturn will ‘soon be over’
December 6, 2019
Norway’s currency remains historically weak, the housing market has cooled off, concerns are rising about the future of the oil industry and investments are due to slow down. Norway’s state statistics bureau SSB (Statistics Norway) now thinks those trends will continue through next year, meaning that the country’s long-running economic upturn is about to end. […]
Household debt continues to rise
December 4, 2019
Norway’s financial authority (Finanstilsynet) is worried about new figures showing how Norwegians’ household debt remains high and keeps rising. The most vulnerable are both young first-time home buyers with large mortgages and senior citizens who’ve borrowed against their equity. The annual figures released by the regulators now show total debt as a portion of gross […]
Lowest unemployment in 10 years
November 5, 2019
A total of 59,500 people in Norway were registered as being without work and receiving unemployment benefits in October. That’s the lowest level recorded by state welfare agency NAV for more than 10 years, reports news bureau NTB. The number of unemployed amounted to 2.2 percent of the work force in Norway last month, adjusted […]
Oil Fund milestone fuels rare praise
October 28, 2019
Even critical Norwegian newspapers had praise for Norwegian politicians over the weekend, after the country’s enormous Oil Fund broke yet another record. “Congratulations!” editorialized Aftenposten, as the fund’s market value surpassed the dizzying figure equivalent to NOK 10,000 billion. The praise was doled out in several directions but first and foremost to the broad majority […]
No increase in the key interest rate
October 24, 2019
The executive board of Norway’s central bank (Norges Bank) has acted in line with economists’ recommendations this time, announcing Thursday that there would be no increase in its policy rate. It remains unchanged at 1.5 percent. Norwegian economists making up an interest rate panel for the country’s major business newspaper, Dagens Næringsliv (DN), were surprised […]
Jensen steps on the state budget brakes
October 7, 2019
Finance Minister Siv Jensen presented the government’s proposed state budget for next year on Monday, backed by the strength of a majority in Parliament for the first time. The budget aims at maintaining Norway’s still-strong economy, by reining in the use of oil revenues as the country also braces for economic restructuring and challenging years […]
NAV reports conflicting jobless rate
September 30, 2019
Norway’s state welfare agency NAV has reported a slight decline in the numbers of Norwegians registered as out of work and applying for unemployment assistance. It’s not the first time NAV’s numbers have conflicted with those of state statistics bureau SSB, which just reported an unexpected rise in unemployment. While SSB reported that unemployment rose […]
CURRENCY RATES