In an interview with Dagbladet newspaper, Prime Minister, Erna Solberg of Høyre (H), said it will be tougher in the future, and there are no simple solutions when interest on income falls.
The Prime Minister referred to the situation as, ‘the special Norwegian challenge’.
‘Our growth engine, i.e. investments in oil and gas, will decline in the coming years. We know that. At the same time, public budgets will increase, and the population will grow. We need new growth engines to lean on, but it will take time’, she told Dagbladet.
The Solberg government injected 220 billion of oil money into the state budget for 2017, but the prime minister promises to transform Norway into a broader economy.
‘The government is going to invest more in the countryside. We are going to make sure that companies use profits to pay taxes to the community. It is well documented that small, and medium-sized, businesses create the most new jobs in Norway,’ said Solberg, who believes we still need a tax reduction.
She thinks that Norway and politicians were naive while the oil fund grew.
‘Everyone can say they did a lot, but the fact is that from 2004 to 2014, high oil prices were almost our only growth engine. That is unhealthy for the Norwegian economy in the long run’.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
