Norges Bank keeps key interest rate unchanged

The key interest rate in Norway is kept at 0.5%, Norges Bank announced on Thursday.

The interest rate was at 0% for a long time during the pandemic but was raised to 0.25% in September last year and later to 0.5% in December.

Norges Bank has announced that it plans to raise interest rates further in March if the financial situation stabilizes.

“As we now assess the outlook and the risk picture, the key interest rate will most likely be raised in March,” governor Øystein Olsen said.

Norges Bank pointed out that the upswing in the Norwegian economy continued through the autumn but that higher infection rates and extensive infection control measures have recently slowed down activity.

Unemployment has risen slightly but appears to be lower than projected in the previous report.

Thursday’s decision is in line with what analysts had expected. DNB says there are reasons to raise interest rates faster than Norges Bank has planned but points out that there is still a lot of uncertainty about economic developments in the future. They believe Norges Bank will raise the interest rate to 0.75% in March.

Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayFinance

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