The central bank boss predicts a better economy in 2017

Oslo 20151217. Sentralbanksjef Øystein Olsen presenterer rentebeslutningen under en pressekonferanse i Oslo torsdag formiddag. Norges Bank holder styringsrenta uendret på 0,75 prosent. Foto: Vegard Wivestad Grøtt / NTB scanpix
The central bank boss is cutting the interest rates and predicts that 2016 will be a challenging year, but believe that the economy will recover in the summer of 2017.
– 2016 will probably be the most difficult year. Production growth is sluggish and the unemployment will rise from the current level, says CEO Oystein Olsen to the newspaper Aftenposten.
He predicts that the registered unemployment rate will peak at 3.4 percent in 2017, but points out that by international standards, there is no high unemployment.
– It is virtually impossible to avoid increased unemployment in the times of reorganization what is happening. In massive use of oil, money could perhaps have been avoided in a short period. But lower oil prices mean the opposite in the long term: The state has less money to spend and therefore use less oil money. Therefore, no more oil money solution, in the long run, he says to the newspaper.
But like the prime minister and finance minister  he says he is optimistic on behalf of the Norwegian economy.- We think it turns during the summer of 2017. Then both exports and private consumption will recover. We do not draw  a gloomy picture, he said.
Source: NTB scanpix/ Norway Today