The money supply M2, May 2008

The money supply amounted to NOK 1 433 billion at end-May, down from NOK 1 442 billion at end-April. The sharp decline in the annual growth to end-May is a result of both the decline in May this year and the sharp growth in May 2007.

Declining growth for non-financial enterprises

Non-financial enterprise money supply amounted to NOK 489 billion at end-May. The twelve-month growth was 7.2 per cent, down from 11.2 per cent to the previous month. The growth rate has been decreasing since December 2006, when it reached 35.5 per cent. Apart from March this year, when the growth was 7.8 per cent, we must back to April 2005 to find yearly rates below 10 per cent.

Slowdown also in household money supply growth

At end-May more than half (NOK 744 billion) of the broad monetary aggregate was owned by households. The twelve-month growth in household money supply fell from 10.2 per cent to 9.6 per cent during May. Households have been the main contributor to annual growth in money supply for five consecutive months, accounting for about 46 per cent of the growth. The growth in household money supply was a little lower than the growth in household gross debt (10.3 per cent) to end-May, as shown by the credit indicator C2 . For more information on the financial position of households, see the financial accounts in the national accounts .

Composition of money supply

The broad monetary aggregate M2 amounted to NOK 1 433 billion at end-May, of which the major part (89 per cent) consisted of bank deposits. In comparison, notes and coins only accounted for 3 per cent of the broad money. The rest of the broad money mainly consisted of shares in money market funds (7 per cent), while certificates of deposits accounted for 1 per cent.