53119_not-searchable
/en/utenriksokonomi/statistikker/brutgjeld/kvartal
53119
Banks are reducing their debt
statistikk
2011-09-16T10:00:00.000Z
External economy
en
brutgjeld, External debt position, loan debt, gross debt, debtForeign assets and liabilities , External economy
false

External debt position, Q2 2011

Content

Published:

This is an archived release.

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The External debt statistics were subject to a major review in 2013 dating back to 2005. Text and tables in this publication contain errors. Updated figures are available in StatBank.

Banks are reducing their debt

Norway's foreign debt amounted to NOK 3 474 billion at the end of the 2nd quarter of 2011. This is a reduction of NOK 68 billion from the previous quarter. The reduction in external debt was mainly due to a reduction in bank debt.

External debt by 2nd quarter 2011 and 1st quarter 2011 in NOK billions

Banks' external debt has been reduced from NOK 1 213 billion to NOK 1 130 billion the previous quarter, mainly due to reduced bank deposits.

Still the highest debt in other sectors

While the banks' bond purchases have declined over the past four quarters, "other sectors" have increased their bond purchases (including financial enterprises other than banks, non-financial corporations and households). The bond purchases have been conducted mostly by mortgage companies. There was otherwise little change in the government and other sectors' external debt. “Other sectors" had the largest overall foreign debt, amounting to NOK 1 292 billion at the end of the 2nd quarter.

Shares and other equity are not included in the statistics. Published figures for external debt are in accordance with the IMF's definition.

Remarks on the general government external debt

Public sector external debt usually consists of two main components, domestic government bonds held by foreigners and repurchase agreements used by the Government Pension Fund (SPU). Repurchase agreements are accounted for as loans on the liabilities side of SPU's balance. Thus this accounting method significantly affects public sector external debt. Read more about this in "About the statistics".

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