Norges Bank holds policy rate at 4.5 percent

Norges Bank kept its policy rate unchanged at 4.5 percent on Thursday, as expected, and said it is prepared to raise the rate again if the inflation outlook requires it.

Why it matters: The hold keeps Norway's tightening bias in place after September's hike, in contrast to the easing path the bank signalled a year ago, and leaves December, with new forecasts, as the next live decision for the krone and Norwegian rates.

Data as of Norges Bank press release of November 5, 2026, published 10:00 Norwegian time and read in full in this run via the live browser (the text fetch of the bank's policy rate page still showed the September release); every figure and wording is the bank's own. The decision was taken at the Committee's meeting on November 4, 2026. Developing item.

Norges Bank’s Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee kept the policy rate unchanged at 4.5 percent at its meeting on Wednesday, November 4, matching the expectation going in. The bank said inflation has been above target for several years, with twelve month CPI inflation at 3.4 percent in September and CPI-ATE, adjusted for tax changes and excluding energy products, at 3.0 percent, and that domestically produced goods and services inflation remains elevated and has run higher than projected in the September Monetary Policy Report.

Governor Ida Wolden Bache said inflation is too high and that it will likely be necessary to keep the policy rate elevated for a time, with the Committee prepared to raise the rate if needed to bring inflation down to target within a reasonable time horizon. No new forecasts were prepared for this meeting; Monetary Policy Report 4/26 will be published with the next decision on December 17, 2026, and the bank noted that capacity utilisation has declined to slightly below a normal level and that the krone has appreciated by more than it had assumed.

Norges Bank holds policy rate at 4.5 percent

Sources