Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on November 6, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleNorway's central bank holds interest rates at 4.0%, with future cuts likely in 2024 as inflation remains above target.
By Nerijus Adomaitis and Terje Solsvik
OSLO (Reuters) -Norway's central bank kept its policy interest rate on hold at 4.0% on Thursday to combat inflation, as unanimously predicted by a Reuters poll, and said it was in no hurry to cut even if further easing was likely in the year ahead.
"Inflation has come down quite significantly from the peak but it's still too high, it's above our target," Norges Bank Governor Ida Wolden Bache told Reuters on the sidelines of a central bank press conference.
"It will take some time before it is appropriate to lower the rate," she said.
The Norwegian crown currency strengthened to 11.71 against the euro by 1049 GMT, from 11.72 just before the announcement.
INFLATION REMAINS ABOVE TARGET
Norges Bank began an easing cycle in June and cut its key rate again in September saying it aimed to reduce it once a year for the next three years, a slower pace than previously planned.
The monetary policy committee on Thursday said the outlook remained uncertain but that if the economy evolves broadly as expected the policy rate will be reduced further in the course of the coming year.
All 27 economists in an October 30-November 3 poll had expected no policy change.
Norway's core inflation for September eased slightly to 3.0% year-on-year, down from 3.1% in August, data from Statistics Norway showed last month, but that was still above the official target of 2.0%.
"Since the previous meeting (in September), we have not got new information that would indicate that the inflation outlook is significantly changed," Bache told Reuters.
The future rate path, which was not updated on Thursday, is due to be revised in December.
The U.S. Federal Reserve last week cut its key policy rate by 25 basis points while the ECB kept rates on hold.
The central bank of Sweden, Norway's neighbour and one of its top trading partners, kept its key policy rate unchanged at 1.75% on Wednesday as expected.
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis and Terje Solsvik; editing by Gwladys Fouche and Hugh Lawson)
A central bank is a financial institution that manages a country's currency, money supply, and interest rates. It oversees monetary policy and aims to maintain economic stability.
Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services rises, eroding purchasing power. It is usually measured annually and can affect economic stability.
Interest rates are the cost of borrowing money or the return on savings, expressed as a percentage. They are influenced by central bank policies and economic conditions.
Monetary policy refers to the actions taken by a central bank to control the money supply and achieve specific goals, such as controlling inflation and stabilizing the currency.
The central bank governor is the chief executive officer of the central bank, responsible for implementing monetary policy, overseeing the bank's operations, and ensuring financial stability.
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