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OIL

Norway to tap oil fund as revenues plummet

Falling oil revenues will see Norway delve into its massive sovereign wealth fund -- the world's largest -- to balance its books next year, according to budget plans unveiled on Wednesday.

Published: 7 October 2015 20:09 CEST
Norway to tap oil fund as revenues plummet
Norway's Troll oil platform, commissioned in 1995. Photo: Håkon Thingstad/Flickr

According to the plans, the minority conservative government will need to take out around 3.7bn krone ($450m) from the fund, which is currently estimated at some $830bn.

Prices of crude have collapsed in recent months, cutting Norway's tax receipts from petroleum extraction activities and dividends by some two fifths, leaving a hole in the 2016 budget.    “We had expected this … to occur later, around 2020. But it has happened earlier thanks to the fall in oil prices,” DNB financial services group economist Kyrre Aamdal told AFP.

“This is a milestone — but it is not of great importance as the fund should continue to grow,” he added.

By the end of next year, the fund — whose role is to pay for future welfare spending and pensions — is set to top 7.449 billion krone (804 billion euros/$904 billion), up from 7.025 billion.

Earlier this year, Norway's central bank indicated that government transfers to the fund could be threatened once oil prices slid below some $60 per barrel.

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ECONOMY

Sweden boosts spending on civil defence in spring budget

Sweden is to channel a further 800 million kronor to local government and other organisations to bolster Sweden's civil defence capabilities, the country's finance minister has announced.

Published: 19 April 2022 09:11 CEST
Sweden boosts spending on civil defence in spring budget

The new funding, which will go to municipalities, regional government, and other organisations, was announced of part of the country’s spring budget, announced on Tuesday. 

“This will strengthen our ability to resist in both war and peace,” Sweden’s finance minister, Mikael Damberg, said in a press conference. “If the worst happens, it’s important that there is physical protection for the population.” 

The government is channelling 91m kronor towards renovating Sweden’s 65,000 bomb shelters, and will also fund the repair the country’s network of emergency sirens, known as Hesa Fredrik, or Hoarse Fredrik, many of which are currently out of order. 

A bomb shelter in Stockholm. Sweden’s government is spending 800m kronor in its spring budget to boost civil defence. Photo: Anders Wiklund/ TT

Sweden’s Social Democrats are currently ruling on the alternative budget put together by the right-wing opposition, making this spring budget, which makes changes to the autumn budget, unusually important. 

The budget includes extra spending of some 31.4 billion kronor (€299m), with 500m kronor going to extra spending on healthcare,  and 10.3 billion kronor going towards supporting Ukrainian refugees, of which nine billion will come from the aid budget. 

The spring budget also includes the so called “pension guarantee bonus”, or garantitillägg, which will see four billion kronor (€390m) going to those with the lowest pensions. 

The bonus, which was the price the Left Party demanded for letting Magdalena Andersson take her place as prime minister, risks being voted down by the right-wing parties in the parliament. 

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