Norway Holds Key Interest Rate at 16-Year High

Norway's central bank maintained its key policy interest rate at 4.50%, a 16-year high, with expectations of a rate cut in 2025. According to Governor Ida Wolden Bache, the policy rate will remain at 4.5% until the year's end, prompting a slight strengthening of the Norwegian crown against the euro.

Norway's central bank kept its key policy interest rate on hold at a 16-year high of 4.50% on Thursday, as unanimously expected by analysts, and said a cut was now expected in 2025, later than previously scheduled.

"If the economy evolves as currently envisaged, the policy rate will continue to lie at 4.5 percent to the end of the year, before gradually being reduced," Norges Bank Governor Ida Wolden Bache said in a statement. The Norwegian crown strengthened to 11.30 against the euro at 0805 GMT, from 11.35 just before the announcement.