Three factors have left their mark on the development of the financial accounts in 2022. Firstly, the country started returning to normal after two years of intensive infection control measures. This led to increased consumption growth in the household sector. Secondly, inflation increased and the prices of many of the goods encompassed by private consumption expenditure rose significantly. Thirdly, Norges Bank raised the key policy rate six times in 2022. This has resulted in a significantly higher interest rate than that of recent years. Higher interest expenses have reduced growth in households' disposable income.
Increased expenditure in 2022 has reduced household savings and net lending in the financial accounts. Net lending was NOK 72 billion, which is NOK 56 billion less than in 2021, when net lending was calculated at a record high NOK 128 billion. Despite the lower net lending in the last year, 2022 is the third consecutive year with unusually high net lending compared to previous years.
Debt growth slowed in 2022, while households continued to accumulate financial reserves. Bank deposits increased by NOK 69 billion, while net acquisition of bonds, shares and mutual fund shares amounted to NOK 17 billion. Net acquisition of financial assets amounted to NOK 223 billion, while liabilities increased by NOK 151 billion in 2022.
Price fluctuations in the securities markets caused households a net loss of NOK 142 billion and holding losses contributed to reducing net financial assets by NOK 70 billion in 2022. Households' net financial assets were NOK 1721 billion at the end of the year, which corresponds to 97.5 per cent of the sector's disposable income.
The report is based on released annual figures for 2021 and 2022. The most important data sources are already incorporated into the calculations of the financial accounts for these years. This applies to accounting statistics for banks, credit companies and insurance companies, and securities market statistics. The calculations are also based on estimates for tax claims and tax payable, estimates for unlisted shares and preliminary figures for households' assets and liabilities outside Norway. Financial accounts for the years 2021 and 2022 are preliminary accounting versions and will be updated as new information becomes available and is incorporated into the calculation basis.