Spending of the Oil Fund has increased by 60% under the present Government
Spending of the Oil Fund has increased by 60% under the present Government. This can’t continue, says a professor of economics.
According to Dagens Næringsliv, oil money spending in Norway has increased with Erna Solberg, (Conservatives), at the helm eight times faster than economic growth in the country.
On average, oil money spending has increased by 12.5% per year over the past four years. During the same period, the Norwegian mainland economy has, on average, increased by 1.6% per year.
In the Government’s proposals for a revised national budget, Minister of Finance, Siv Jensen (Progress Party), suggests using NOK 220.9 billion this year, an increase of more than NOK 20 billion over last year’s.
– The Government has increased spending enormously, says Professor Ragnar Torvik of the Department of Economics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
The Minister of Finance Siv Jensen reduced the figure by 4.7 billion in the draft for the revised national budget, compared with the original budget proposal. Torvik believes it should have been reduced a lot more.
– At first, it was said that Norway had to spend money because the economy was bad. The mirror image of that should be that you cut down spending when it’s going well. But now, while it is said that the economy is performing well, Norway is simultaneously is increasing oil-fund spending, says Professor Torvik.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
