Several news outlets are reporting bullish overtones from Norway’s central bank, as it today kept rates on hold for the seventh month. The phrase they refer to is this: “the key policy rate should not be kept low for too long.”

This phrase was also used in October, however, and should not prejudice the reader against data on inflation and exchange rates that encourage a continued low rate. Norges Bank’s phrase might be to manage inflation expectations, or its definition of “too long” might simply be longer than that of the average journalist; but it would be quite odd if the central bank were to raise rates imminently. The bank itself says: “Both the consideration of bringing consumer price inflation up to target and the consideration of stabilising developments in output and employment imply a low key policy rate.”

Norway’s y-o-y inflation is 1.9 per cent, against a target of 2.5 per cent. It is projected to fall below 1 per cent before rising next year, with the outlying scenarios including deflation (see chart, right). Norges Bank is clearly worried about falling inflation. At the last monetary policy meeting in October, the Bank mentioned a fear that “financial imbalances … may trigger abrupt and sharp falls in output and inflation.” Read more