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The Conservative Party promises to scrap exit tax austerity (DN)
Angry entrepreneurs warn foreigners against moving to Norway. Tina Bru (H) and Linda Hofstad Helleland (H) ask Vedum to reject the new tightening of the exit tax. – It’s completely nonsense, says Bru.
– Even before the proposal has been adopted, we hear about entrepreneurs who move abroad and do not want to come to Norway or establish themselves in Norway. We force people with good solutions out of the country. We cannot live with that, says Helleland.
The promise from the Conservative Party is therefore resoundingly clear: – If we win the election, there will be no entrepreneurs’ tax like this. We are not supporters of reversal, but we cannot afford not to reverse this. This is more important than dissolving a county council, says Bru. read more
– This is bad news for Norges Bank (DN)
The Federal Reserve keeps interest rates unchanged. Chief economist at Sparebank 1 SR-Bank believes the wording is bad news for Norges Bank ahead of the interest rate meeting on Friday. – This is bad news for Norges Bank two days before their interest rate decision. The signals from the Fed can cause the krone exchange rate to weaken and create additional challenges for Norges Bank, says Knudsen.
The Norwegian krone has weakened sharply in recent weeks, and is close to the weakest level against the dollar in November last year. On Wednesday evening, one dollar cost NOK 11.03, a slight improvement from Tuesday. read more
Sounding the interest rate alarm: – Never been so weak against the dollar (The online newspaper)
On Wednesday morning, one dollar costs NOK 11.14. – The Norwegian krone has never been as weak against the dollar as it is now, notes chief economist Kyrre M. Knudsen at SR-Bank – and adds that it is against the dollar that our currency has weakened the most. He reminisces 12 years back in time, when a dollar cost NOK 5.50. – Most things are turned upside down now. Then Norway flew high with high oil prices and higher interest rates than our trading partners. By comparison, the interest rate in the USA is now 5.5 per cent and in Europe 4 per cent. In Norway, the key interest rate has been at 4.5 per cent since December last year. read more
Bad news for you with a mortgage (The online newspaper)
At 8 pm on Wednesday evening, the US central bank, the Federal Reserve (Fed), presented its interest rate decision. There it emerges that they are keeping the key interest rate unchanged, in the range of 5.25 to 5.5 per cent, the highest in 23 years. It is the sixth interest rate meeting in a row where the bank chooses to keep interest rates stable. The bank refers to a “lack of progress” towards the inflation target of 2 per cent.
This is bad news for Norwegians because the level of Norwegian interest rates is affected by what happens internationally. The krone exchange rate can be strongly affected if Norges Bank lowers interest rates before other important economies, such as the USA. read more
This is the interest rate that determines the interest rate in Norway (Terje Erikstad, DN)
The key interest rate in the US is kept unchanged. Another interest rate is more important for the interest rate here at home, and it fell a little. The interest rate on US government bonds with a maturity of ten years largely controls the corresponding interest rate in other countries. This is shown by an analysis from the British bank Barclays.
The interest rate on ten-year government bonds is perhaps the most important interest rate in the world. The ten-year bond, as it is called, currently has an interest rate of 4.6 per cent, according to Bloomberg. At the start of the year, the interest rate was 3.9 per cent. In Norway, the interest rate on ten-year government bonds has risen by just over half a percentage point this year, to 3.8 per cent. A large part of this is probably due to the rise in the American ten-year-old.
After the interest rate meeting in the USA, government interest rates there fell somewhat, but only by less than 0.1 percentage point. But both for Norwegian interest rates and the exchange rate of the Norwegian krone against the dollar, this is a small step in the direction of lower interest rates and a stable krone exchange rate. read more
Housing has become so much more expensive (E24)
Today’s home buyers need more than twice as much annual salary as their parents to enter the housing market: A home buyer in 1993 had to fork out 1.4 annual wages to buy a 50 square meter flat. Last year, the buyer had to fork out 3.9 annual wages for the same flat.
Socioeconomic analysis predicts a 33 per cent house price increase in Oslo over the next four years. For Bergen, Trondheim, Kristiansand and Tromsø, growth of 25–26 per cent is predicted from today to 2027. The lowest increase is in the interior, with 19 per cent, i.e. more in line with wage growth and price growth in society. Telemark and Møre and Romsdal are also roughly the same.
Our salary will increase by 17 per cent in the same period (2024–2027), which means that in cities like Oslo with an increase of 33 per cent, it will be strongly felt that housing is more expensive. – There are many things that point in the direction of house prices rising quite a lot, such as lower interest rates, high wage growth, high population growth and too few homes will be built in the future. read more
Bankruptcy crash in April: Most people lost their jobs here (The online newspaper)
395 Norwegian companies went bankrupt in April, up 76 per cent compared to 225 bankruptcies in April last year, according to Creditsafe. Early Easter this year affects the numbers. It is within agency and wholesale trade that we find by far the biggest bankruptcy of the month: Agder Anleggsenter AS. The company had a turnover of just under NOK 700 million in 2022, and 124 employees will be affected by the bankruptcy.
41 bankruptcies in the catering business give an increase of 58 per cent compared to last year’s 26. In the retail trade, 47 bankruptcies give an increase of 62 per cent compared to 29 bankruptcies in April last year. April was also a disappointing month for the construction industry. 49 bankruptcies in the construction of buildings correspond to an increase of 63 per cent. A total of 1,352 companies have gone bankrupt during the first four months of the year. read more
Great support for the farmers’ demands in the agricultural settlement (NTB)
In a survey, 42 percent responded that they believed the farmers’ demand for 3.9 billion in this year’s agricultural settlement was appropriate. 25 percent think the requirement is too high, and 19 percent think the requirement is too low. This is revealed in the survey carried out by InFact for the Nation.
The government has decided that farmers’ income should be raised to the same level as teachers and nurses by 2027. According to the government’s calculation method, the income gap is NOK 136,000. To start the job of closing the income gap, the farmers’ organizations have jointly demanded NOK 3.9 billion in this year’s agricultural settlement. read more
EEA supervision supports the staffing industry in multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the state (E24)
Staffing agencies have sued the state for NOK 40 million following new rules that prohibit staffing agencies. Now they have the EEA supervisory authority ESA as a supporter. read more
– Both parts are wrong (Finansavisen)
Rune Aale-Hansen in Regnskap Norge reacts strongly to how Minister for Digitalization and Administration Karianne Tung (Ap) refers to cryptocurrency.
– She expresses that cryptocurrency is used a lot in criminal acts, and that it is not traceable. Both parts are wrong. That the government is critical of electricity consumption in cryptocurrency mining is not a good enough reason to mess with the facts, says Rune Aale-Hansen in a press release from Regnskap Norge.
He points out that a calculation made by Chainalysis shows a financial crime of 0.34 percent of all crypto transactions in 2023. He believes that the use of cash poses a much bigger problem. – If the minister really wants to fight the black economy, she should, together with the finance minister, promote the use of digital payment solutions. read more
Will challenge China’s dominance with Norwegian minerals (Finansavisen)
Politicians from the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and the Christian People have come together on a proposal that will provide more land-based mineral extraction in Norwegian hills and rocks.
– There is a lot of geopolitics in this. China has made it very clear that it is not interested in letting go of the control it has over the microchip value chain. I think it is also important that we get European and Western cooperation on this, says Bård Ludvig Thorheim, representative of the Conservative Party in the Storting’s energy and environment committee. read more
The state outbid two competitors by one billion in a secret battle for Meraker Brug (DN)
The government assured the Storting that the price of NOK 2.65 billion was within what “other bidders would be able to value” Meraker Brug for. Now the lawyer for one of the bidders is coming forward – to correct the story.
– In this bidding process, we considered it unthinkable and pointless that anyone could or would bid such an amount, and that was also the case for our clients, says business and property lawyer in Thommessen for 37 years, Gerhard Holm. He adds: – When our clients reached 1.655 billion, the annual return was already in the single digits in our calculations. 2.65 billion it was completely pointless to bid. It is not possible to calculate home – and far above what is proportionately paid for other comparable properties, says Holm. read more
Going on a train against Tesla: Refuses to unload cars on board ships (E24)
– This is not about costs for Tesla, but about having control, says Fredrik Winger-Solvang of the Oslo Transport Workers’ Union. From the podium, Swedish Emil Moum-Rönnborg from IF Metall’s youth committee talks about the strike, which now extends far beyond national borders. – It doesn’t matter if he is the world’s richest man. When foreign companies do not follow Swedish rules, we fight back, he says to everyone who has turned up at Youngstorget. read more
Not up to par with the competition in the banking market (manager, DN)
New EU rules can help small banks take on the big ones. read more
Bulder owner on the wild growth in mortgages: – It’s going as fast as it gets (DN)
Sparebanken Vest CEO Jan Erik Kjerpeseth is not bothered by weak profitability for Bulder. Sparebanken Vest in Bergen on Tuesday presented new, resilient figures for the bank’s all-digital “concept” Bulder. What at the start in 2019 was a small start-up, has become an annoying challenger for, among others, DNB-owned Sbanken. read more
IT entrepreneur Jens Petter Høili wants to sell Holmenkollen luxury for 63 million (DN)
The villa was bought for NOK 8.5 million 20 years ago. Now series founder Jens Petter Høili and his wife Anja Digregrind Høili want more than seven times that amount. read more
Freyr confirms that the director of operations had to leave – received a severance package of eight million (DN)
As announced, there was no bonus for the management of the battery company for last year. Options increase the salary, but the share has a long way to go before they have real value. Two directors are out. the compensation was given in accordance with what was stipulated in the employment agreement in the event of an “involuntary dismissal initiated by the company”, the report says of both’s severance pay.
For operations director Jan Arve Haugan, it means a severance package of NOK 8.2 million, which comes on top of a salary of NOK 5.5 million. Haugan also remained as an adviser to Freyr boss Birger Steen until the end of February, and is said to have received a further NOK 915,000 in salary. read more
Gold for greystone? No thanks (Alexandra Morris, investment director at Skagenfondene) (DN)
A solid bonus in a year where the company performs poorly may be deserved. But the companies’ owners cannot afford generous remuneration for completely ordinary efforts. read more
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Also read: This is what the newspapers write about Oslo Børs on Thursday 2 May
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