Norway takes money from its rainy day fund for the first time as the low oil price hits home
Norway usually pumps NOK 200 billion into the account every year. The reversal of fortunes is a signal that the low oil price is taking its toll on the country's finances. The country’s sovereign wealth fund contained NOK 7 trillion at its peak in 2008. State Secretary at the Norwegian Ministry of Finance Paal Bjornestad has said that the fund should continue to grow as long as returns outpace government spending, which has a limit of 4 per cent of its value - equal to its long term average returns.
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