Norway’s PM warns of ‘tight’ 2023 budget
The government will tighten its purse strings next year, with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre warning that the state budget for 2023 will be ‘tight and fair’.
Norway’s government will keep a lid on spending next year, with PM Jonas Gahr Støre saying that the budget will be tighter than in previous years.
On Wednesday, Støre met the press with Minister of Finance Trygve Slagsvold Vedum to unveil early details of the next year’s budget.
Both have recently warned the government would stem the flow of oil money into government coffers to try and curb inflation.
“There are new expenses that we must take in responsibly by creating a good state budget for the country and people, and we are well on our way to doing that. This is going to be a tight and fair budget,” Støre said.
“We cannot do as has been done in previous years, to just use more oil money to solve challenges. On the contrary, we have to spend less, and at the same time we have big expenses to pay and big tasks to do,” he added.
Vedum warned that while using oil money seemed like an easy option, it could lead to higher inflation.
“We must take control of what we can control, and we must not just increase the use of oil money because that could lead to even higher price growth,” he said.
Money generated from oil revenues is used by the government in Norway to top-up public spending. The money is drawn from the Government Pension Fund, the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. There are more than 11 trillion kroner currently in the fund.
READ MORE: Why Norway’s government wants to slash the use of oil money
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Norway’s government will keep a lid on spending next year, with PM Jonas Gahr Støre saying that the budget will be tighter than in previous years.
On Wednesday, Støre met the press with Minister of Finance Trygve Slagsvold Vedum to unveil early details of the next year’s budget.
Both have recently warned the government would stem the flow of oil money into government coffers to try and curb inflation.
“There are new expenses that we must take in responsibly by creating a good state budget for the country and people, and we are well on our way to doing that. This is going to be a tight and fair budget,” Støre said.
“We cannot do as has been done in previous years, to just use more oil money to solve challenges. On the contrary, we have to spend less, and at the same time we have big expenses to pay and big tasks to do,” he added.
Vedum warned that while using oil money seemed like an easy option, it could lead to higher inflation.
“We must take control of what we can control, and we must not just increase the use of oil money because that could lead to even higher price growth,” he said.
Money generated from oil revenues is used by the government in Norway to top-up public spending. The money is drawn from the Government Pension Fund, the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. There are more than 11 trillion kroner currently in the fund.
READ MORE: Why Norway’s government wants to slash the use of oil money
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