The Norwegian central bank, Norges Bank, kept its policy unchanged, as expected. The central bank did not give out any new signals. With no new rate path and only a statement released, the focus was on whether the board’s assessment shows any change in view, noted Nordea Bank in a research report. The board, in its assessment, concluded that “overall, the outlook and the balance of risks for the Norwegian economy do not appear to have changed substantially since the December Report”.
But looking at the statement, most changes are slightly for the upside. Rates abroad are slightly higher as are oil prices. Based on the new methods for house price statistics that was released yesterday, Norges Bank stated that the decline in house prices in the past year has been slightly smaller than anticipated. Moreover, growth abroad has surprised Norges Bank slightly on the upside.
“Based on their short term forecasting models, we expect amongst other things that Norges Bank will revise upwards their estimate for growth this year”, added Nordea Bank.
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