The World Bank Group Singapore Hub, expanded from the initial set up in 2010, draws together the different infrastructure expertise along the transaction chain – firstly, project management of the World Bank; secondly, structuring expertise of the International Financial Corporation (IFC); and thirdly, credit enhancement of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) – to deliver practical project advisory and financing solutions to governments globally. This includes its ongoing efforts to develop a bankable Public-PrivatePartnership (PPP) project pipeline for ASEAN. The Asian Infrastructure Centre of Excellence (AICOE), set up in April this year, would also work with governments to catalyse infrastructure development in Asia, starting with Southeast Asia. Similar to the Singapore Hub, the AICOE will select infrastructure projects based on needs in the region, grow them to a bankable stage, and match these projects with private investors. 17. These efforts will help make infrastructure financing more accessible to a broader group of investors, and help banks to recycle their capital more quickly to other greenfield projects. Transactions can be structured such that institutional investors can, through capital market instruments such as infrastructure projects bonds or securitisation, take over the financing of projects from banks after the construction phase is completed. By facilitating financing to what industry estimates to be USD 300 billion of marginal bankable projects in Asia, these integration efforts will enhance long term growth prospects of Asian economies. 18. One less-talked about area where market integration holds great promise is in insurance.

Over the years, taxation of the value of owner-occupied housing in Norway has gradually been reduced. The tax benefit for owner-occupied dwellings, introduced in 1882, was abolished in 2005. The tax allowance for debt interest, however, was retained. This system subsidises household borrowing, it subsidises owning rather than renting a dwelling, it leads to higher house prices than would otherwise have been the case and to overinvestment in housing capital. Households inflate their balance sheets and housing capital in order to take advantage of the tax benefit. Taxation of housing in line with other forms of capital implies taxation of the value of owning a dwelling, the rent saved and the rise in the value of the dwelling. Housing taxation reform can contribute to curbing the house price fluctuations that successive generations seem to be exposed to. 4. Conclusion  Developments in recent months indicate that the financial crisis in Norway will not turn into a crisis in the real economy. There has been no recurrence of the solvency crisis in the banking sector twenty years ago. The Norwegian economy has nonetheless been exposed to major shocks. Oil prices and prices for other important export goods rose sharply through the upturn. The liquidity crisis hit the banking sector as growth started to slow. The impact on unemployment has not been pronounced and inflation has remained low and fairly stable throughout. We can safely say that fiscal and monetary policy have been fairly effective so far.