Norges Bank keeps monetary policy on hold

The Norwegian central bank, Norges Bank, stood pat during its meeting today, as was anticipated. There was no rate path today. The main conclusion was that “the outlook and the balance of risks do not seem to have altered substantially since the September Report”. This was consistent with expectation.

The central bank, in listing up news since the September report, concluded that the most have been widely in line with expectations. However, close reading might imply more upside surprises than downside. Both inflation, rates abroad and money market premium is indicating towards higher rates. Softer growth is the only downside surprise.

However, the central bank sum up the main news by stating that the economic growth has been slightly lower and inflation is slightly above expectations. In all, the news appears to be on the upside.

Meanwhile, Norway’s labor market survey was released today. In spite of unemployment moving sideways, the survey is quite solid. Employment has now risen with a yearly rate above 2 percent.

“Shortage of qualified labour will be the main problem looking ahead and wage growth will increase. Labour supply, at least of qualified labour, will not keep up with demand”, stated Nordea Bank.