Norway will increase spending on its wealth fund to $43 billion by 2025

The Norwegian minority government announced on Monday that it will raise public spending from Norway's $1.8 trillion sovereign fund in 2025 to pay for expenses. Elections for the parliament are due in September next year.

The Labour Party and Centre Party have proposed to withdraw 460.1 billion Norwegian crowns (43 billion dollars) in 2025. This is an increase from a revised 416 billion in 2024. Now, the government must negotiate with the Socialist Left in order to pass the budget.

The Finance Ministry predicted that the gross domestic product of the non-oil sector will grow by 0.7% in 2019, down from the 0.9% increase seen in May. This is expected to rise to 2.3% growth in 2025, and 2.1% expansion in 2026.

The government stated that the backdrop to the budget was an economy with the prospects of stronger growth and low unemployment.

In 2025, the core inflation rate is expected to be 3.2% and will decline to 2.7% by 2026.

The finance ministry announced that the structural non-oil budget deficit for 2025 was set at 2.5% of the fund’s estimated value by the end of 2024. The Norwegian Crown is worth $1. (Reporting and editing by Nora Buli).

(source: Reuters)