Net foreign assets up NOK 45 billion

Norway's foreign assets at the close of 1997 amounted to NOK 733 billion while its liabilities came to NOK 635 billion. Its net foreign assets thus totalled NOK 98 billion, an increase of NOK 45 billion over the course of 1997. Net assets were equivalent to nine per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Over the course of 1997 assets increased by NOK 164 billion and liabilities by NOK 119 billion. A significant portion of the increase in assets is attributed to Norwegian Government Petroleum Fund overseas bank deposits and investments in foreign bonds and other securities. Over the course of 1997 the holdings of these investments increased by altogether NOK 66 billion to NOK 114 billion, of which NOK 105 billion was invested in foreign bonds. The Petroleum Fund's holdings are included in Norges Bank's holdings. The foreign shareholdings of securities' funds, life insurance, overseas shipping and business services have also risen sharply.

Once again, most of the debt increase in 1997 occurred in the commercial and savings banks. The sectors' net foreign debt increased by NOK 51 billion to NOK 120 billion. Foreign bank deposits in Norwegian banks increased by NOK 30 billion, and borrowing by Norwegian banks abroad increased by NOK 28 billion. In 1992 the bank sectors had net foreign assets of NOK 2 billion.

Surge in holdings of foreign shares

At the end of 1997, Norwegian holdings of foreign shares amounted to NOK 119 billion, estimated at face value. Face value holdings increased by NOK 32 billion over the course of the year. Measured in kroner, this is the largest increase ever recorded. Norwegian share investments nearly doubled in both Sweden and the US, and shareholdings in Belgium, Luxembourg and Finland also surged. Market value of shareholdings was NOK 178 billion at the close of 1997, and shareholdings estimated at market value increased by NOK 50 billion over the course of the year.

The biggest share investments took place in Britain, where at the end of 1997 Norway owned shares with a face value of NOK 27 billion, followed by the US with NOK 21 billion, Sweden NOK 17 billion and Denmark NOK 8 billion. Norwegian shares in foreign hands increased by NOK 3 billion to NOK 41 billion by the end of 1997. The major investor countries were the US, with NOK 10 billion, Sweden with NOK 8 billion and Britain with NOK 7 billion. The market value of the foreign shares has not been calculated.

New Statistics
Foreign assets and liabilities, December 1997.
The statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and in the series Banking and Credit Statistics. Current figures. For more information contact: Leiv.Ryalen@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 45 23, or Kjell.Hammer@ssb.no..

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 10, 1999